Strange Happenings
by Darcicy
Summary: Graduated, Hermione and her friends head out to the bar for their weekly get together. But when they arrive, Hermione meets up with an old school mate. And these two happen to have a certain past together. A/U, OOC. COMPLETE!
1. Meetings

**-Hello! Welcome to my story's page. First, I would like to start out by saying that I originally started to write this story when I was about fourteen years old. That's 7 years ago now. Thus, I would like to ask your forgiveness for the fact that the first few chapters are utter crap. The first chapter has some song lyrics, which make the chapter pointless really, and really short, but they get a lot longer as time goes on. I would ask that you read ahead anyways and make your judgements after the fifth or sixth chapter. Thanks muchly.**

**Also, I'd really appreciate reviews after said chapters to let me know what you think, or anything you may like to see. I love challenges, so if I can work it in somehow, I'll see what I can do. That's all. Remember, chapter 5 or 6! thanks. xxxxx**

**Chapter 1: Meetings**

Hermione Granger, 20, Hogwarts graduate, was on her way to Club 41, the best bar in town, to hang with her friends, get drunk, maybe pick up a guy, and just have fun.

She drove to Ashley Cross', her best friend, place and honked the horn on her white mustang. Ashley came out of the house and greeted her friend. Although they didn't get to see each other very often and rarely got to speak to each other, they were extremely close.

They drove to the bar together, meeting up with their friends Ingrid and Seb Montgomery, Stephanie and Tony Gregorii and Anastasia and Alex Nofftal. The group waited in line for a short time before being allowed into the club. They checked their coats and bags and headed in for a night of fun.

They paid for their drinks and went onto the dance floor. Hermione was dirty dancing with her girlfriends when a blonde guy, about the same age as her, asked her for a dance. Hermione felt as though she knew the guy. Hermione studied the man for a moment. Silver eyes and blonde hair. Perfect bone structure. Her jaw dropped for the quickest second, and then she clamped it shut and put a sly smirk on her face.

"Malfoy," She hissed.

"How do you know my name?" the man asked, quite obviously surprised. His eyebrows nearly flew off of his head.

"Hogwarts history" she smirked and walked away to her little group's table on the side of the dance floor.

How had she known about him going to Hogwarts? And who was she?

His questions were soon answered when a tall man, with jet black hair, glasses and a peculiar shaped scar on his forehead, a lightning shaped scar. He knew who Harry Potter was talking to. It was the Mudblood. Before Draco could look away, Harry looked at him and shot him daggers. Draco quickly turned away and walked away before anything could happen.

Thank Merlin, it was karaoke night. Hermione and Harry got up and sang Beyonce and Sean Paul's "Baby Boy". When they had finished there was a round of polite applause. Hermione stayed on stage though and sang Sheryl Crow's "The First Cut Is The Deepest"

She finished, and Draco stood there stunned. She had a beautiful voice, but should he be feeling this much compassion for her? After all, he hadn't seen her since graduation. And even then, no words had been exchange between them.

He gathered up his courage and went up to sing Clay Aiken's "The Way"

Hermione watched with mild interest as she danced with Harry, wondering how come she suddenly started to feel soft towards him. Hermione was not going to let herself be outdone by a slimy Slytherin, so she convinced Ingrid, Stephanie and Anastasia to get up with her and sing Christina's, Pink's, Lil' Kim's and Mya's "Lady Marmalade"

(Lil' Kim:) Where's all My soul sisters

Let me hear y'all Flow sisters

Hey sister, go sister,

Soul sister, flow sister

Hey sister, go sister,

Soul sister, go sister

(Mya:) He met Marmalade

down In old Moulin Rouge

Strutting her stuff On the street

She said, Hello, hey Joe

You wanna give it a go, Oh

Gitchi gitchi ya ya da da

(Hey hey hey)

Gitchi gitchi ya ya hee

(Hee oh) Mocca chocolata ya ya

(Ooh yeah) Creole Lady Marmalade

(Oh) Voulez-vous coucher avec moi,

Ce soir (oh oh)

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi

(Yeah yeah yeah yeah)

(Pink:) He sat in her boudoir

While she freshened up

Boy drank all that magnolia wine

On her black satin sheets

Is where he started to freak, Yeah

Gitchi gitchi ya ya da da (Da da yeah)

Gitchi gitchi ya ya hee (Ooh yeah yeah)

Mocca chocolata ya ya (Yeah, yeah)

Creole Lady Marmalade, Uh

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi,

Ce soir (ce soir)

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (Ooh)

(Lil' Kim:) Yeah, yeah, aw

We come through with the

Money and the garter belts

Let 'em know we 'Bout that cake,

Straight out the gate

We independent women,

Some mistake us for whores

I'm saying, why spend mine

When I can spend yours

Disagree, well that's you

And I'm sorry

I'ma keep playing

These cats out like Atari

Wear high heeled shoes,

Getting love from the dudes

Four bad ass chicks

From the Moulin Rouge

Hey sisters, soul sisters

Betta get that dough sisters

We drink wine with Diamonds in the glass

By the case, the Meaning of expensive taste

We wanna gitchi gitchi ya ya

(Come on)

Mocca chocolata

(What)

Creole Lady Marmalade

One more time, come on

Marmalade

(Ooh)

Lady Marmalade

(Ooh yeah)

Marmalade (Oh)

(Christina:)

Hey, hey, hey

Touch of her skin

Feeling silky smooth,

Oh Colour of café au lait,

All right Made the savage beast inside

Roar until he cried

More, more, more

(Pink:)

Now he's back home

Doing nine to five

(Nine to five)

(Mya:) Sleeping the gray flannel life

(Christina:) But when he turns

Off to sleep, Memories keep

More, more, more

Gitchi gitchi ya ya da da (Da da)

Gitchi gitchi ya ya hee (Oh)

Mocca chocolata ya ya (Ooh)

Creole Lady Marmalade

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi,

Ce soir (ce soir)

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi

(All my sisters, yeah)

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi,

Ce soir (ce soir)

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (Oh)

Come on, uh

Christina

Moulin

Pink

Lady Marmalade

Lil' Kim

Hey, hey, uh uh uh Uh uh uh uh

Mya

Oh oh ohh

Rockwilder baby

Lady Moulin Rouge

Oh ooh Da dum da dum

Misdemeanor here

Creole Lady Marmalade,

Ooh yes

Hermione, Stephanie, Ingrid and Anastasia left the stage. Hermione

could feel eyes staring at her as she walked past Draco.

'What is his problem?' she thought to herself.


	2. Remembering

**Chapter 2: Remembering**

Drinking one shot after another, one beer after another, and testing each other's drink, Hermione, Harry and the rest were having a blast. Dancing, singing and being around each other were the high points of the evening as far as they were concerned.

Hermione kept stealing glances at Draco. 'Hmmmm...' she thought, checking him out from behind, 'not bad...'

Harry followed Hermione's gaze, wondering what had his friend so distracted. Harry noticed the white blonde hair, and when the man turned around, his silver eyes pierced into Harry's emerald green ones.

"Hermione, why are you looking at him?" Harry asked.

"What?" Hermione asked, still in reverie.

Harry groaned and turned back to Seb and Tony, who were arm wrestling. Draco saw Hermione looking at him absent-minded and walked over to her.

"Have a problem?" he hissed, smirking. "Checkin' out my ass are you?"

Hermione laughed. "Malfoy, the day I check you out, again, is the day I fall in love with you again."

**FLASHBACK**

"You won't ever leave me?"

"I will love you forever and ever. You are my sun. Constant and always there. You are my Juliet."

"Don't say that, they ended up in body bags."

"But it brought peace between the families."

"I don't want to die. We have so much to live for!"

"Our love will keep us alive."

"We are graduating soon."

"Why does that matter now?"

"We will be forced to go our separate ways"

"Then maybe we should call it an end right now."

**END FLASHBACK**

"Well, then, perhaps for old times' sake, we should go sing a song. Perhaps you know it? It is a country song, 'We Never Loved At All'?" he asked.

"As the matter of fact, I have heard it, and you're on." she got up and walked to the DJ booth, told him the song, and grabbed a microphone.

You never looked so good

As you did last night

Underneath the city lights

There walking with your friend

Laughing at the moon

I swear you looked right through me

But I'm still livin' with your goodbye

And you're just goin' on with your life

How can you just walk on by

Without one tear in your eye

Don't you have the slightest feelings left for me

Maybe that's just your way

Of dealing with the pain

Forgetting everything between our rise and fall

Like we never loved at all

You, I hear you're doin' fine

Seems like you're doin' well

As far as I can tell

Time is leaving us behind

(Leavin' us behind)

Another week has passed

And still I haven't laughed yet

So tell me what your secret is

(I wanna know, I wanna know, I wanna know)

To letting go, letting go like you did, like you did

How can you just walk on by

Without one tear in your eye

Don't you have the slightest feelings left for me

Maybe that's just your way

Of dealing with the pain

Forgetting everything between our rise and fall

Like we never loved at all

Did you forget the magic

Did you forget the passion

Did you ever miss me

Ever long to kiss me...

Maybe that's just your way

Of dealing with the pain

Forgetting everything between our rise and fall

Like we never loved...at all...

Draco looked at his ex-girlfriend. He did long to kiss her, many times. He longed day and night, he tossed and turned for hours, regretting what had happened between them. The confusion, the fighting and the never ending harrassment from some of the other students. He often referred to himself as lost and confused. He had lost the girl of his dreams. He was the one to blame. He didn't think he had tried hard enough to explain everything properly to her. Did she ever long to kiss him? Did she toss and turn, wishing she hadn't brought the subject up? He remembered it as if it was yesterday.

**FLASHBACK**

He looked at her, wide-eyed. "Are you sure? This is a big step."

She nodded. She was even surprised with herself. She took the vow when she was 12. She was now 17. Five years had passed without any problems. But something was different now. He had made her feel like it was time. He was the one for her. They're relationship may have been secret, but that didn't mean she could give herself to him She knew she was going back on her word, but she truly believed that now was the right time.

They slowly experimented with kissing, and took off each other's clothing. They were behind a tapestry on the 8th floor.

Draco kissed her tenderly as he slid into her, and took her innocence forever.

**END FLASHBACK**

Hermione was at home in her bed. She stared at her ceiling, wondering what Draco was thinking. Was he thinking of her? Was he remembering all the times they had together? The first time they had met on the train in first year? Their first kiss? The first time the danced together, when there hasn't been any music? When they began to fall in love with each other.

Questions were endlessly crossing her mind, often repeating themselves. Little did she know what her supposed true enemy was thinking.

Draco watched the minute hand on his clock. It was slowly moving, watching paint dry would have been better. He had been watching his watch for 3 hours, unable to think. He had watched 4 movies before that. It was nearly 8 o'clock in the morning, and he was wiped. He was supposed to meet Gregory in Diagon Alley at 10. He got out of his bed. He really did not want to go see his childhood friend. He flooed a letter to Gregory, apologising, and that he is not feeling too well. Gregory replied almost immediately and told Draco that they would reschedule some other time.

Draco appreciated the gesture, and set the letter aside. Draco moped around the kitchen, getting ready to make his favourite drink in the world. Coffee. He did not drink it very often, anymore. He had been drinking coffee since he was a toddler, but, once he and Hermione were together, she got him off of it. He had never drank it much since, because it reminded him of her. He was right. He never would get over her.

-.-

Hermione had finally managed to get to sleep at about six in the morning. She did not appreicate when her phone started to ring. She groaned and rolled over to answer her phone.

"Hello?" she mumbled.

"Hermione, it's Cryslin!"

Hermione smiled to herself, "Hey, Crys, how are ya?"

Cryslin Green and Hermione were neighbours during their childhood. They stayed in touch, but rarely called each other because with Cryslin in Europe and Hermione in Canada, it was pretty expensive.

"Good, good. Same as always. How goes the life away from...well...you know..."

Cryslin had always known Hermione was special, from the first day they met and played in her sandbox together. When Hermione went to Hogwarts, Cryslin didn't know exactly where her friend was going, but she had a hunch. Finally, when they were fourteen, Hermione told her the truth and swore her to secrecy, threatening to remove the memory if she couldn't keep her mouth shut.

"Oh, my god, Crys. You'll never guess who I saw at the bar last night."

"Who?" her friend asked. You could hear her bouncing with excitement though the phone line.

"Malfoy." Hermione grunted.

"You mean...the guy that...why is he there? You left here to get away from him."

"I know. It's ironic. The only contact I have with...that world is Harry. Occasionally a visit from school friends, but nothing constant!"

"But Harry didn't like you two together, so he wouldn't tell him where you were."

"I know." Hermione sat up, and stretched, holding the telephone between her shoulder and ear. "I am kind of nervous. Next thing I know, we'll be living together, let alone dating. I'm not ready to have my heart broken by him. He's the one I ran away from."

**FLASHBACK**

"End it now? What do you mean?"

"You brought it up."

"I didn't mean that we should..."

"NO! Don't even go there, that's it. I love you with all of my heart, I do, but if you are going to be..."

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN? If you really loved me, you wouldn't be doing this." she turned to leave.

"Wait–"

"No, I spent 6 and three fourths of a year waiting for you. I refuse to go through that again."

**END FLASHBACK**

Hermione and Cryslin talked for a while longer, about what was new in Europe, etc. When it was time for them to hang up, they picked a date to meet on MSN.

Hermione went into her kitchen and look at the clock. 11 o'clock AM. She turned on the radio to listen to the news, but Kelly Clarkson's "Because Of You" was on. Hermione loved the song, it was reminded her of what happened. And as depressing as it was, it was still part of what made her who she is today. Each verse had brought back a memory of her love. If only he was here with her today.


	3. For Us

**Chapter 3: For Us**

Draco was walking on the beach. So many memories had come back to him the night before when he had seen the girl who was his first love. He had so many memories. Their first kiss, first date, first...well...everything.

He longed to hold her in his arms once again, and now that he knew she was here, he promised himself he would. He would, damn it.

-.-

Hermione was at the mall with her girlfriends when her cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

"'Mione, it's me."

"Hey Harry. What's up?"

"Nothing, I was jut wondering if you were feeling okay."

Hermione smiled, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, I know how you feel about..." he paused a second before saying it, "Malfoy."

"Harry, I am perfectly fine. But I have to go, I am shopping with Ashley, Ana, Ingrid and Steph."

She hung up and Anastasia asked why Harry was calling her. Hermione explained that Harry thought she was pretty tanked last night, and was wondering if she needed what he called 'the Hang-Over kit'. The four other girls laughed and continued shopping.

There she was. Walking down the corridor with her friends. She looked amazing, even though she was only in jeans and a tank top. He couldn't help staring at her.

**FLASHBACK**

Hermione walked down the stairs in a strapless deep red coloured dress. He was up in a messy bun sort of thing. She smiled at him and his heart swelled. He really did love her. She was the most important thing in his life. He cared about her in a way that no words can explain.

Her smile lit up the room, her laugh could make a Dark Lord fall for her.

"You look..." his voice left him, and he grinned.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "How do I look?" she added flirtatiously.

"You are..." he searched for the right word, "an angel."

She laughed. Oh, that laugh, he thought. He loved it.

**END FLASHBACK**

Draco watched as Hermione entered a store with the girls she was with. He heard the five laugh at something. He picked her laugh out specifically. He missed that laugh so much. He walked up to the store and saw her smiling and laughing with her friends.

That smile, he thought to himself, was the prettiest smile in the world.

10 years ago, she was his enemy, but now, she was his world. He couldn't stop think about her. And he had a date in 2 and a half hours. With Pansy Parkinson of all people.

Good thing he was flooing to England for this date, and she wasn't coming here.

-.-

Draco got home and heard someone call his name.

Draco went into the flat's living room and saw the person he least wanted to see right now.

"Father?" he asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

"Ah, Draco, can I not come to visit my son when I wish too?"

"Well, yes, but I am surprised, that's all."

"Well. Are you still going out with Pansy this evening?"

Draco resisted the strong urge to roll his eyes. Of course his father had a reason for coming. Lucius wanted him to marry that pug face. He remembered when him and Hermione would laze around and laugh at Pansy. He smiled at the thought.

"I'll take your smile as a yes."

Draco nodded, covering his thoughts, hoping his father didn't occlume what he was just thinking. "Yes father, Pansy and I are still going out this evening."

Lucius nodded his approval. "Well, then, I'll leave you to pamper yourself. You must come see your mother and I sometime. She misses having you at the house."

Assuring his father that he would, he left to get ready. He took a long, hot shower to clear his mind. He got out, got dressed, and headed for the main fireplace.

"DIAGON ALLEY" he shouted and dropped the floo powder. He felt that familiar sensation in his stomach. He landed on his butt in the familiar old inn and pub, The Leaky Cauldron. He stood up and walked outside. There was the limousine he ordered.

He got in and gave the driver the directions to Pansy's house.

Here we go again, he thought.

-.-

Hermione was at home that evening at about 6:30 when Harry came over.

"How are you doing?" he asked, without even saying hello.

"What is it with you and this fixation you have on 'how I am doing'?"

"Geez, I was just asking," he rolled his eyes.

"Harry James, do not roll your eyes at me!"

Harry laughed and then put on a serious face. "'Mione, I am only worried about you, after last night. I know how hurt you were when your heart was broken."

"Harry, I am fine! Please, don't worry. It is over and done with. Nothing will be like it used to be."

"Okay, but come on, we are going out tonight with some friends."

"Who?" she asked, sensing it was something she wouldn't really like.

Harry dragged her out the door and they walked a few blocks to get to the movie theatre. They paid for their tickets, and when they got to the lobby, Hermione's prediction had been proven wrong.

"Ron! Ginny! Dean! What are you guys doing here?" she asked as she gave Ginny a hug.

"Visiting an old friend, have you seen her? Bushy hair, buck teeth?" Ron asked.

Hermione laughed at her friends insensitivity and flipped her sleek brown hair over her shoulder and grinned widely.

Ginny told her she looked like a movie star, but laughed when Hermione told her what she was really doing.

"Selling real estate for..." she lowered her voice to a whisper, "muggles."

They group laughed and stood in line to buy some snacks.

They went to see the Pink Panther. They were laughing all the way throughout it.

They left the movie an hour and some later, and were laughing so hard they got looked at.

"My favourite part was when he took those two wires and..." Dean laughed so hard he couldn't say it.

They all walked over to the nearest Tim Horton's and ordered some coffee. Except for Ginny, who claimed she would be up all night if she had anymore caffeine. Hermione agreed and changed her order.

The group sat down and talked for about an hour and they all decided that they really needed to do things like this more often.

They each went their own way, yelling out good-byes to one another.

Hermione got home and slipped into some pajamas. She went into the very back of her closet and pulled out an old box. She pulled off the top and looked at all the artefacts from her teenage-hood. Pictures of her and her friends, small items that meant a lot like a small muggle child's car.

She dug in her closet some more and found the box she was looking for. She pulled it open and took out what lay on top. A dried rose from the corsage she had worn to her prom. A bundle of fake flowers from Junior Prom. Pictures from major events that they had attended together.

'If only it was still like that,' Hermione thought.

-.-

Draco laid in his bed later that night after his date with Pansy, which had gone like crap. He couldn't focus. All that girl talked about was herself. Didn't she ever get bored of that topic? Still, he held up his family name and remained calm, and although it wasn't the best thing to do to pass the time, he thought of Hermione.

He decided to figure out everything about her. He realized he was in love with a girl who he didn't even know anymore. He knew she was a real estate agent. Her face was all over town on benches and flyers. It belonged there, he had thought to himself. It just hadn't clicked to him that it was his Hermione. Then again, he had only lived here for about three weeks.

-.-

The next morning, Hermione left the house at promptly 8:15 AM. She got into her car and drove away. She got to her office at 8:30 and looked at her schedule. She had about half an hour until her first appointment of the day. She grabbed some coffee and did some work within that time period when her secretary came in to tell her the new client was here.

Hermione stopped what she was doing and told Margie, her secretary, to send the person in. Imagine her surprise when a tall man with silver eyes and white blonde hair walked into her office.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione demanded.

He smiled. "Is that any way to treat your client?"

Hermione grimaced. "What can I do to help you?"

"You can hear me out, for starters." Draco looked at her seriously.

"About what? You lied, that is all that matters. You betrayed my trust."

"'Mione – "

"Do not call me that! You have no right to prance into my office and talk about the past."

"What past?"

Hermione's face looked shocked. "The past you tore me apart in. Now what can I do for you today?"

"Hermione, listen to me please."

"Why did you come here? I do not want to talk to you."

"You may not want to talk to me, but I want to talk to you."

"Okay. You're here. You have half an hour. Talk."

Draco looked at her and took a deep breath.

**FLASHBACK**

Hermione opened the door to her boyfriend's room in the common room they shared in the final year. Being Head Boy and Girl definitely had its up sides. Large common room, bathrooms, bedrooms and their own set of kitchens, all to themselves.

Hermione was taken aback by what she was seeing. She silently gasped. There was someone with him. A certain pugged face hoe that was... KISSING HER BOYFRIEND.

Hermione stood for a minute, then it finally sunk in. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" she demanded.

Draco pushed the forceful girl who was kissing him away.

"Hermione!"

"What is going on?"

"It's not what it looks like! Please, let me – "

"Let you what? Explain? Oh please do," she smirked, "I'd like to see you make up an excuse for this one." she said before she turned on her heel and stormed out of the room.

Draco ran after her. "HERMIONE, WAIT!"

Hermione was running down the hallway to her bedroom. She went in and locked the door. But not thinking, she didn't set any other spells or jinxes on it, so Draco easily got in.

He walked over to her in the kitchen and said.

"I love you – "

Hermione laughed, "that's rich"

"Look, if your going to be that way, maybe we shouldn't be together at all." He was getting mad at her for being so arrogant.

That caught Hermione's attention quickly. "End it now? What do you mean?"

"You brought it up."

"I didn't mean that we should..."

"NO! Don''t even go there, that's it. I love you with all of my heart, I do, but if you are going to be..."

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN? If you really loved me, you wouldn't be doing this." she turned to leave.

"Wait––"

"No, I spent 6 and three fourths of a year waiting for you. I refuse to go through that again."

**END FLASHBACK**

"So?" Hermione asked when he didn't say anything.

"I want to buy a house."

"Okay, you're point?"

"For us. To live in. Together."


	4. Outrider's

**Chapter 4: Outrider's**

"Excuse me?" Hermione asked in shock.

"Us. You and me. You and I. I and you. Me and you. Us." Draco explained.

"I do not think so." Hermione scoffed. Just what did he think he was playing at? There was no way that Hermione would ever allow that to happen.

"And why not?"

"Because there is no longer an us. No more me and you. No more you and me. No more you and I. No more I and you. Capeshe?"

"No, actually. Not capeshe. I want there to be an us again. A you and me again. Me and you, you and I, I and you. I need that again. You're killing me, you're breaking my heart, again."

That set Hermione off. "Again? AGAIN?" She screamed. When she realized how loud she was being, she lowered her voice. "Again? Who broke whose heart? I walk in on you and you little skank making out. TWICE! Who broke who's heart?" She was red with anger. She stormed out of the room and went to the staff room. Draco, not planning on letting her walk away this time, stalked after her.

"You're right. I broke your heart, and I'm sorry about that. But you never let me explain. She kissed me. I was just sitting there, and she came onto me. She kissed me. Okay? Understand?" Draco was beginning to get annoyed with her stubbornness. But on the other had, it made him desire her even more. She never took crap from anyone. He admired that about her.

"Don't talk to me like that, Malfoy."

"Like what?" Draco raised an eyebrow. "Okay, consider this? It's, what, 9:15? How about we meet for lunch at 12:30? My treat at Outriders?"

She glared at him with her honey eyes, "I don't think so."

"Why not?" Draco raised an eyebrow at her.

"Because I don't want to that's why not. You are trying to buy me, well, let me tell you, it doesn't work that way." She walked over and poured herself a cup of coffee and added some cream.

Draco walked over to her, but she pushed him away.

"Please? I really want to take you to lunch." He was starting to beg. Hermione was shocked. She had never heard him beg. Not once. It was something that she knew he prided himself on.

"If I say yes will you leave right now."

"No."

"And why not?"

"Because you are supposed to be selling me a house."

Hermione regretfully agreed to lunch with Draco. A part of her was screaming "YES!" while the other half was telling her she was setting herself up, again. Why did she agree to something so stupid? He was probably planning to stand her up. Then again, he did seem pretty eager to have lunch with her.

-.-

Hermione went through the rest of the morning dreading, yet anxiously awaiting 12:30. When 12:15 came around, she grabbed her blazer and told Margie to hold all of her calls until she got back from lunch. She walked out the door and gasped when she saw Draco waiting by her car.

"About time you got out here. I thought we would walk to Outriders, it's only a few blocks away and I think it would be a good time to talk."

She walked over to him and they began to walk towards the largest restaurant in town. "Talk about what?"

"Promise not to freak out on me?" Hermione took a deep break and nodded. "Us."

Draco saw her jaw tighten, but true to her word, she did not freak out. "What about us?"

"Hermione Granger, I want to date you. I want to be with you again. I know that you were hurt, I know I hurt you alot, and I'm really sorry. I can not emphasize how sorry I am. If I could apologize to you everday I would, however, I am quite postive you would get annoyed with me if that were to happen."

"You're probably right. So I accept your apology. However, I am never going to forget what happened. You might be sick of hearing this," She looked up to him with her hazel eyes, "But, you really did hurt me. It's not just the fact that I walked in and saw it, it's the fact that I walked in and saw it more than once."

**FLASHBACK**

Hermione said the password and she was about to go apologize to Draco about what had happened between them earlier. She had totally overreacted to what happened and she never gave him the chance to explain. When she walked in she heard him talking to someone in his room. At least she thought she heard him talking to someone. She walked over to his door and stood outside it, listening through it. When she didn't hear any voices coming through it, she lightly knocked on the door.

When no one answered she pushed the door open. There he was on the bed on top of her. She had a hold of his collar, it looked almost as if he had been pulled down onto her. Hermione didn't notice that however and then she stalked out of the room, slammed the door behind her and raced down the hall.

At the sound of the door slamming, Draco looked up and muttered "Shit!" He looked towards Pansy. "Stay away from me." He yelled. He opened the door and sprinted down the hall towards Hermione's room. He knocked on the door. When she didn't answer, he knocked again and yelled "'Mione!"

She came to the door, opened it just enough for him to see her face. "Yes?"

"Look, I don't know how much you saw but I want you to know-"

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Come on. Yes, you do"

She glared at him, then raised an eyebrow. "You're right, I do, but I don't want you to say anything. It is offically over between us Draco Malfoy. I never want to talk to you again."

**END FLASHBACK**

"What were you doing anyways? When you saw us again?"

Hermione looked at the ground. "I came to give you a chance to explain yourself. I came to apologize for jumping to conclusions."

They walked the rest of the way in silence.

"Welcome to Outriders." The hostess greeted them as they walked through the door. Hermione never got tired of the decor in this place. She loved it. Black tableclothes, a single white rose on every table, black marble counters, silver and white hanging light fixtures and a large bar at the back of the restaurant.

Draco smiled and said "Hello, I have a reservation under Malfoy."

The hostess looked down at her book and checked something off. She looked up at them and said "Right this way, please." She grabbed two menu's and lead the way to the back corner of the restaurant. She seated them, handed them their menus and asked them what they would like to drink. They ordered their drinks and the hostess left them to look at their menu's.

"Hermione?" A strange voice asked.

Hermione looked up and saw a man she used to date. She smiled and stood up and gave him a hug. "Hi, Derek. How are you?"

She sat back down. "Oh, I'm good. How are you? You look great."

Hermione turned the slightest shade of red. "I'm alright, thanks."

"I'm glad to hear that. I haven't talked to you in a while. What's new?"

"Oh, not a whole lot." Draco quietly cleared his throat. "Oh, I'm sorry. Where are my manners." She smirked. "Derek, this is Draco Malfoy, him and I went to school together in England. Draco, this is Derek Camden."

Derek and Draco shook hands. "Well," Derek excused himself, "I should get back to work. Good talking to you again, Hermione. Nice to meet you, Draco."

As Derek walked away, Hermione began to read her menu again. "Asshole." she said, "You know, you and Derek have a lot in common." Draco raised an eyebrow at her. "You both cheated on me with your ex-girlfriends. Of course you were both forced too, though." She added sarcastically.

"I deserve that." He said modestly, reading his menu.

"No, you don't." Hermione sighed. "I'm sorry. It is a thing of the past, and I keep shoving it in your face. I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't be sorry. You didn't do anything. You walked in. Anyone could have." He smiled at her. His smile faded and he added. "But it wasn't just anyone, it was you. I want you to know, I would have told you if you hadn't walked in. But you just happened to walk in and jumped to conclusions."

"I did that alot back then."

"One of your best attributes." He joked, hoping to get her smiling at him.

He got a half smile. He'd take that. At least it was a start.

They enjoyed their lunch and talked about why Hermione had left England. "I needed to get out of there. Too crowded." Draco knew what she meant, he didn't need to ask her that. Hermione and Draco were on their way back to her office when the finished lunch when Draco asked, "So, how do you know Derek?"

Hermione took a deep breath and explained that when she first moved to Canada, he had befriended her and Harry. He showed them around Cold Lake, introduced them to some of his friends. He was very hospital. After about 2 months of living in Canada, he expressed his feeling for Hermione. He told her that he liked her more than a friend, and asked her out. She agreed and they dated for about a year when Hermione walked into his apartment one evening after a fight with Harry, only to see him on the couch with one of his ex's.

Hermione confided in Draco. "I couldn't handle it. Not again." She told him that she slammed the door, as she had done to him, and ran away. Derek followed her, begging for a chance to explain. "I didn't talk to him. I didn't return his calls, I avoided him at work, when I worked at Outrider's. I didn't talk to him for about 3 months. When finally he came to my door and apologized and I told him I accepted his apology, but I wouldn't be seeing him anymore."

Draco stopped walking and looked at her in surprise. "You mean I didn't need to wait 4 years? I only needed to wait 3 months."

Hermione shook her head and continued walking. "You were a tougher case. I had seen you twice. And you were..." she trailed off.

Draco waited a moment for her to continue and when she didn't say anything, he said "I was what?"

"Nothing, nevermind. Forget I said it."

Her stopped her and turned her towards him. "I was what?" he repeated.

Hermione took a deep breath. "You were my first love. I was hurt. I loved you. I thought you loved me too. I got upset, and I was irrational. Most of all, I was young."

Draco pulled her into an embrace. To his surprise, she hugged him back. They stood there for a moment in each others arms as Draco whispered, "I never meant to hurt you. I will never hurt you again. Hermione, will you give me a second chance?"

Hermione pulled back and said, "I need to get back to work."

"Okay, lets go." Draco laced his fingers through hers. To his surprise she didn't pull her hand away, but it was effortless. There was no emotion in her hand hold, as there was in his.

Draco walked her back to her office and she simply said good-bye and walked inside.

-.-

Hermione got home that night and slipped into some jeans and a t-shirt. she listened to the messages on the telephone. There was one from Harry.

"Hey, Mione. What are you up too tonight? How about a movie? I heard that Jarhead is in tonight. How about that, or not? Who knows. Well give me a call, okay? Later."

There was also a message from Ingrid. "Hermione Granger. You are busted. I saw you with that blonde guy from the bar the other night today. You were hugging him. Are you okay? You looked sad too. Call me tonight, we can easily get a girls night together if we need too. Love yas."

Hermione called Harry right away. He didn't answer so she left him a message telling him it was time for a girls night and that she would have to pass on the movie. She also suggested that he go with Seb, Tony, and Alex instead.

After Harry, she called Ashley, Ana, Steph and Ingrid, telling them it was girls night at her place. Bring the booze and she'll provide the munchies. She finished calling her four girlfriends and walked to the 7-11 to pick up some munchies.

At 6:30 Ashley, Ana, Ingrid and Steph arrived with the alcohol and they sat waiting for Hermione to spill what was going on.

"Ok, Hermione." Ingrid said. "Lets start with the basics. Who is he? Where's he from? How do you know him."

Hermione drew a breath and began.

An hour later, Hermione finished almost everything. Leaving the fact that she was a witch and she went to a School of Magic out.

"So then, today he was my first appointment. He walked into my office saying that he wanted to buy a house. Well thats normally what people want when they walk into my office. Then he adds that he wants to buy a house for both of us. I told him there was no longer a us. He argued saying that he wanted to be an us and all that jazz. Long story short, He wanted to get back together with me. He invited me for lunch, I agreed, we ran into Derek, talked for a minute. When Derek left I told Draco that he and Derek have alot in common." Hermione didn't have to explain, the four other girls knew exactly what she was talking about. Hermione continued, "After lunch, Draco walked me back to the office, we talked, I told him how I felt for about the fifth time today and then he hugged me, I hugged him back, he asked for a second shance, I didn't give him an answer and just said I needed to get back to work. He walked me back, holding my hand, and I just said goodbye."

Ana smiled and said "I can see the Headlines now, 'Old School Love' and 'Reality Hits The Realtor!'" Hermione, Ingrid and Steph laughed.

The phone rang and Hermione grabbed it and looked at the Call ID. "Oh my god, its him!" She looked at the other girls.

"Answer it," Steph demanded.

Hermione was hesitant. Ingrid reached over, pressed talk, shoved the phone to Hermione's ear. "Hello?"

"Hermione? Its Draco."

"Hi." She sent a glare at her friend who were trying to hear. She put him on speakerphone.

"I was wondering, would you like to go out tomorrow night."

"Oh, um," Hermione looked at her girlfriends, who were all nodding frantically. "I was actually planning to go out with some friends." Her friends looked at her with looks that said "what the..." Ana grabbed a peice of paper and scribbled 'invite him to come!' Hermione raised an eyebrow and said. "Would you like to come with us?"

"Yeah, sure. What's the plan?"

"Uhm," Hermione looked at her friends. This time Steph scribbled. 'Dinner, and drinks!' "Dinner and drinks."

"Okay, where's dinner?"

Hermione didn't need help with this one, "Clarks, in the north, by the lake."

"Okay. I'll be there."

"Okay, See you tomorrow." Hermione hung up.

All of the girls smiled.


	5. Future

**Chapter 5: Future**

Hermione woke up the next morning, anxious and jittery, although she didn't know why. After going into the kitchen and grabbing a cup of coffee she remembered why. Tonight all of her girlfriends were going to meet him. The one that had hurt her so badly that she left her friends and family to get away from him. Yet all she could do since yesterday's lunch was think about him. Think about how he persuaded her to go out for lunch, think about why he wanted to buy a house for the both of them to live in, and most of all she thought about whether his arrival here had been a mere coincidence or the doing by fate. Either way, she had a feeling that this was not going to be her happy ending.

Then why did a big smile stretch across her face every time she thought about him?

She went through her regular morning routine and made her way to work. She didn't have any appointment this morning, so she took the opportunity to catch up on some paperwork.

"Hermione, Harry is on line 2 for you." spoke the voice of Margie, her secretary, through the office's intercom.

"Can you take a message?" Hermione asked, annoyed. Harry had already called her cell phone 5 times in the last hour and a half. And that didn't include the 20 text messages that she had that were telling her that he needed to talk to her right away.

"He says its urgent."

"Of course it is." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Ok, I'll take it, thanks Margie."

Hermione picked up the phone, and hit the button for line two. "What do you want, Harry?"

"I need your help."

"Excuse me? You called me and interrupted my work to ask me a question that you could've waited until tonight to ask me?"

"Yes, because I am well aware that you have dinner plans tonight, not only with the girls, but with a certain Slytherin who not only broke your heart, but lied to you about it."

"What's your point? Isn't it my choice to decide what I do in my spare time?"

"Well, yeah, but well, just meet me for lunch? Please? There is something that you should know."

"What is so important that you can't tell me over the phone, Harry?"

"Please, just meet me for lunch?"

"Ok, FINE!", Hermione was getting angrier by the moment.

"Great, I'll pick you up at twelve." and he hung up.

"Oh, boy." Hermione muttered to herself as she too hung up the phone.

Twelve o'clock on the dot, Harry walked into Hermione's office and said, "lets go.".

Hermione grabbed her jacket and her purse and followed Harry out to his car. She got into the passengers seat without saying a word. They drove in silence to Harry's favourite place, McDonalds.

"McDonalds? Seriously, Harry, I don't know how you aren't five hundred pounds."

"Meh, it's my active lifestyle."

Hermione couldn't help but laugh, "Oh, right. Your walk from your house to the car and back, right?"

"Hey!", Harry shot back, "I walked from my car into this restaurant didn't I? That's not my house."

"With the amount of time you spend here, it might as well be."

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up and order."

Hermione stepped up to the counter and placed her order and waited for it. When she got it, she went to sit down at a booth and waited for Harry to sit down as well.

"Ok, get to it, Harry. What is so important?" Hermione asked halfway through her chicken nugget meal.

Harry took a drink before starting. "Ok, well remember Susan Bones?"

"Yes…" Hermione raised one of her eyebrows.

"Well Susan told Padma, who told Pavarti, who told Lavender, who told Ginny, who told Ron, who told me, that Draco is still dating Pansy. In fact they were on a date in London, just the other night."

Hermione didn't say anything for a moment. "And why couldn't you tell me over the phone?"

"Because," Harry looked at her with worry on his face, "I don't want the same thing to happen all over again."

"It would be impossible for that to happen, because that would mean that I have romantic feelings for him again, which I do not." She lied. She hoped that he wouldn't see through it.

"Hermione…" Harry started.

"It's the truth, Harry." She said in such a tone meaning the conversation is over. Hermione hated lying to her best friend, and this was a very big lie indeed.

Hermione finished her lunch with Harry, and had headed back to the office. Margie was on the phone when she walked through the doors, but she signalled for Hermione to hold on one moment before continuing into her office.

"Oh, she just walked in the door, just one moment please." Margie said to the person on the other end before putting them on hold. "Ana and Ingrid both called for you said it was important and Stephanie is on the line now, line one."

"Thanks," Hermione smiled before rushing into her office to pick up Steph's call.

"Hey, Steph. What's up?" She answered the phone while she took off her jacket.

"I hope you are not busy."

"Well, I have an appointment at two fifteen, but that's it. What time is it now?"

"It's one now. The girls and I are outside your house, and you need to get here… NOW!"

"Be there in five."

Hermione raced back out of her office, hoped into her car and sped through town to see that the big emergency was. She reached her house in record time of two minutes and fifty-six seconds. She jumped out of her car and stood in amazement. Her whole porch was full of flowers and colourful boxes.

"HERMIONE! He is even better than you let on."

"Guys, he's just trying to suck up."

"So? He obviously wants things to go right this time. Now, lets go look!"

Hermione led the way to her porch and started looking around at all the flowers and gifts. She told her friends to start reading the tags on the flowers, but as soon as Hermione grabbed for a card, the bouquet turned into colourful butterflies that flew around her head before flying off into her yard.

"Wait! On second thought, lets just move them inside."

So, the girls got to work on taking everything inside. By two o'clock Hermione's porch was back to normal, but her living room was full of everything now.

"Ok, I have to get back to work, but how about we reconvene around 4 to get ready for dinner and start opening these?" Hermione suggested.

They all agreed and headed their separate ways. Hermione drove back to her office to find that her two fifteen appointment had already arrived. A young couple were sitting side by side across from Margie's desk. She greeted them and apologized for not being here to meet them when they got here, and escorted them into her office.

-.-

Hermione's clients left by three thirty and she told Margie that she was leaving for the day and that she would see her tomorrow. Hermione hoped in her car and drove home, hoping to beat her friends there. It must have been her lucky day because there wasn't any sign of her friends here at all.

She went inside and started working on the flowers first. She forgot to leave the door open and halfway through she realized that her house was full of colourful butterflies. She went around opening doors and windows. How odd this must look to her neighbours but she didn't really care. Draco was trying to make things better this time and that is what counted, right?

After getting rid of all the flowery butterflies, she started working on the gifts, only to find out that each tag on the gift boxes had numbers in which she had to open in order, according to her directions. She found number one, then two and lined them all up and waited for the girls to get here.

Less than thirty seconds later, her friends burst through her door. Without even realizing the flowers were all gone, they urged and prompted Hermione to open the boxes. As she open each box she revealed a part of her history. I picture of Hermione and Draco in their secret spot behind the tapestry on the eighth floor of Hogwarts, a keychain that she had bought on her family vacation to Australia that she gave to Draco, a bracelet that had her name on it that he'd give her as a gift, but she threw it back at him the night they ended things for good.

As she continued opening the gifts she was taken back to their time together and the excitement of seeing him tonight increased, regardless of the useful tidbit Harry had given her over lunch.

-.-

Draco was getting ready to leave for dinner with Hermione and her friends around five thirty. He was dressed in a Ralph Lauren dress shirt and Levi's with some shoes his mother had bought him years ago. He was getting ready to go out the door when he heard a fire roar in the fireplace.

'Shit,' he thought to himself, 'not now.'

"DRACO?" a deep voice bellowed throughout the house. "Are you here?"

'Oh, excellent. I better get him the hell out of here.' He thought to himself manoeuvring himself to where his father was.

"Ah, there you are, son."

"What are you doing here, dad? I'm kind of busy."

"Now, now Draco. Is that any way to treat the man that raised you? Fetch me a drink will you? I'm parched. Besides, you should cancel your plans for this evening. We need to talk about your future."

-.-

Hermione and her friends and their boyfriends were all sitting in Clarks by six o'clock. They were all waiting for Draco to get here before they ordered their meals. Hermione had asked Margie to call Draco to inform him that dinner was at six, and Draco had told Margie that he'd be there, so where was he?

Hermione couldn't help but to be anxious, even though she tried to hide it, every time the bell over the door opened she jumped and looked over to see if it was Draco, but it never was. They all waited until almost seven o'clock, when Hermione finally decided that Draco had stood her up. She got up and excused herself from the rest of the evening events. Ana asked if she wanted company, but Hermione informed her that she'd prefer to be alone and declined the invitation.

Hermione drove home, and cracked open a bottle of wine. She couldn't shake the feeling that she'd allowed herself to be too vulnerable again.


	6. Sparks

**Chapter 6: Sparks**

Draco had finally gotten rid of his father by ten thirty that night. By the time he finished talking to his father, he had succeeded to stand Hermione up, tell his father he had no wish to be a death eater, and break both of his parents hearts, or at least his father's heart. Draco knew his mother didn't want him to join Voldemort's troops.

Draco wasn't too sure if he'd say his father had a heart. Sure, he had the beating organ in the left side of his chest, but when it came to compassion, there was no way in Hades that his father has a heart, absolutely not.

Draco went into the kitchen to fill up his glass of whiskey when he realized he should be on his way to Hermione's to apologize. He put down his glass and apperated.

-.-

Hermione was in the bathtub criticizing herself for being so naïve. Why in the world had she believed him? She had actually thought he had changed, but in reality, he is the same person he was four years ago. Why would he have changed just for her? After all, she was nothing more that just a Mudblood to him, right?

Hermione got out and dried herself off, grabbed another glass of wine and headed for her bedroom. She was determined to get her mind off of this, relax and get a good nights sleep. She opened up the novel that she was currently working on and started to read.

As much as she tried to read, her heart just hurt to much to care about it. Hermione closed her novel and decided that she shouldn't be alone. She got up and got dressed just has she heard a loud cracking sound downstairs. She raced down the stairs to see Harry standing in her living room.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Harry raced over to his friend

"I was just on my way to see you."

"Ana called and told me. She said that you were really hurt when he didn't show up."

Hermione gave him a weak smile. "Well, that's one way to put it, I suppose."

Harry lead Hermione over to the sofa and sat her down. She nearly fell off the edge of the couch because she hadn't been paying attention to where the couch was in proportion to her butt.

"How many glasses of wine have you had?" He asked her.

"Erm… more than I care to say." Harry gave her a funny look. "More than I can count on one hand?" She tried again.

"Fair enough. I'll go get you some coffee." He took the wine glass she brought down with her as he headed into the kitchen.

Hermione was sitting there trying to keep herself calm when there was another loud crack. Less than two seconds later there was a knock on the door. Hermione was about to get up and answer he door, but Harry told her to sit down and he would answer it.

Hermione waited for Harry to escort her guest inside, but instead she heard two people talking in low voices.

"What the hell do you think your doing here?" Harry hissed.

"I'm here to talk to her. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt her," the second voice shot back.

"You should have thought of that earlier."

"My father showed up just as I was leaving. I can't exactly give him the cold shoulder."

"Maybe you should try it sometime. Last I checked, your daddy deserves a little kick in the ball sack." Hermione had to smile when she heard this, and she got up to go talk to both of them when she realized who it was.

"You're right, he does. But I just can't do that to him right now." Draco looked upset with himself.

"Then you just can't -"

"Harry, one moment. Please? I'll be inside in just a moment."

Harry looked at Hermione. "Fine." He said. Before retreating to the living room he shot Draco a nasty glare.

Making sure Harry was gone, she turned to Draco.

"Hermione! I'm really so -"

"Save it," she held up her hand. "I don't want to hear it. Draco, I was very, very wrong about you. I thought you had changed since Hogwarts, but apparently the only thing that has changed is your age, at least physically anyways, your emotional age is debatable but that's not what I'm going to tell you." Hermione took a deep breath.

"Then what are you going to say to me? Are you going to tell me its over? Because, Hermione it won't ever be over. It never was over. You know it as well as I do, that night at the bar. I know you felt what I did. That spark we had when we were in school is still alive."

"Maybe it was alive that night at the bar, but Draco, a spark will either ignite and start a roaring fire or it will just fade away into an ash, a has been, a once was. And as of tonight, that is what you and I are, a dead spark. I'm tired of you breaking my heart, I can't take it anymore. Good night, Mr. Malfoy." Hermione turned around and closed the door in Draco's face.

-.-

As Hermione slammed to door in his face, he knew he couldn't give up. He retreated for the night, but as he walked down the front porch steps, he got his cell phone out. He looked through is contact list until he found the phone number he wanted. It rang for a couple of minutes before a voice mail picked up.

Draco waited for the beep and then said, "Hi there, this is Draco Malfoy calling. I've got my eye on a house that is under Ms. Granger's name, and I would like to set up an appointment to take a look at it. Please call my back on my cell phone. Cheers."

-.-

Harry and Hermione were sitting in her living room when Hermione said "Harry, I know I was an idiot for believing that he had changed, but does it make me an idiot for still thinking that he might?"

"Not an idiot, just…" He drifted off when Hermione's cell phone rang.

Hermione got up and looked at the caller ID.

"Hi Ana. Yes, he's here. Yes, he came. No, I told him it's over. Because he's the same kind of person he's always been. Yes. Okay. Bye."

Hermione sat back down, "Sorry, she was just calling to make sure I was ok."

"I know, she texted me while you were talking to Malfoy."

"Oh."

"You need to watch something funny." Harry exclaimed after a moment of silence

"Is that your cure for everything?" Hermione laughed.

"Yup," Harry grinned, "Now, what do you want to watch?"

-.-

Hermione woke up the next morning as her phone went off at 7 AM. She opened her eyes, looked over to see Harry on the other couch and realized she'd overslept. She hopped up, told Harry she was running late and raced up to the shower. She bathed, primped, and got dressed in a record time for her, twenty five minutes. She ran back downstairs, pulled out her wand and whipped together a large nutritious breakfast for her and Harry.

"Harry, FOOD!" she yelled. Less than five seconds later, Harry was in the breakfast nook and reaching for a croissant.

"My Lord, you and Ron both, will you ever change."

"It's a guy thing, get over it." Harry told her.

"Whatever." Hermione ate her breakfast and put the finishing touches on her make up before heading to work.

"Thanks for being there for me last night Harry, I really appreciate it."

"Anytime, I'll lock everything up when I leave."

"Okay, thanks. I'll talk to you tonight?" She asked.

"Yup, but one question before you leave. Why do women spend so much bloody time doing there make up? Its just going to come off by noon anyways."

"Not if you get the good stuff. And besides, it's a girl thing. Get over it."

-.-

"Good morning, Hermione. You have four appointments today and you have six messages." Margie told her as she walked into her office.

"Thanks Margie, I'll take my messages now." she took the papers from Margie, "and what time are my appointments?"

"You've got a meeting here at eight thirty, the Brockwell house showing at ten, another meeting here at one thirty and then the Loosely's estate showing at three thirty."

"Oh wow. Okay. Thanks, Margie." Hermione walked through the doors to her desk and took a seat getting ready for her first appointment of the day.

-.-

By the time three o'clock rolled around, Hermione was having a fairly good day. All of the meetings that she'd had so far had been successful and she'd closed the deal with all of them. She hadn't thought about last night once, and she hadn't heard from him all day, which was even better. In fact, the only damper she'd had on her day was the text message she'd gotten from Harry.

'Gud thing U ddnt give DM another chance. PP going round telling ppl her and DM R getting Mrred'

Well, she had kind of hoped that he might try something like he had the other day, showing up and insisting on taking her to lunch, but there had been nothing, which is a good thing, I guess. Maybe he left town to be closer to his new Fiancée, and then things could go back to the way they'd been before he'd shown up here.

She got all of things for the end of the day and asked Margie what the name of the client she was meeting was.

Margie looked at her scheduler, and at all the papers on her desk but couldn't find the name.

"No matter, I'll just figure it out when I get there." Hermione told her.

Hermione got into her car and drove to Tim Horton's to pick up a coffee. As she sipped on her coffee on her way through town, her new favourite song came on the radio. She cranked up the volume and started to sing aloud until she entered the exclusive neighbourhood that her show house was in. There was no one there yet, so she got out and leaned against the car, waiting for her client to arrive.

At three thirty on the dot, a car pulled up behind hers. The window's were tinted and she couldn't see the driver but as soon as the head of hair popped out of the vehicle she knew exactly who it was.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Hermione exclaimed in anger.

"Uh, uh, uh," he said. "Is that anyway to treat your client?"

Hermione gave him a nasty glare before putting her best smile on. "You're right. Good afternoon, Mr. Malfoy. Will the future Mrs. Malfoy be joining us today?"

"There is no future Mrs. Malfoy." Draco told her, with a puzzled look on his face.

"That's not what I've been told, along with some others who've been hearing the same thing. Do send Pansy my best when you see her." She added on the last part in sarcasm.

"Who told you?" he demanded.

"That's irrelevant. Now, would you like to see the house, or not?"

Draco looked upset that she wouldn't tell him who told her that him and Pansy were getting married, but he nodded nonetheless.

-.-

Hermione took Draco through the house and pointed out the highlights the house, asked if he had any questions, etcetera. After they finished the walk through of the house, she lead him into the back yard.

"There's a duck pond a little further back, but the pool was built for having social gatherings around."

Draco looked around the patio and took a walk around the pool. "I really like this place. Do you think that it would be suitable to raise children in?"

Hermione was taken aback with his question. "I-I suppose." She answered as professionally as she could.

"Good, because after you and I get married, I want to have a little boy and call him Draco junior. And then maybe a little girl, a Daddy's girl, and we can name her whatever you like."

Hermione was even more taken aback. "Excuse me, after you and who get married?"

"You."

"Me?"

"You're the only 'you' here, aren't you?" He asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, but you and I are not, I repeat, NOT getting married. Now, do you have anymore questions?"

"Yes, I do, actually. Will you come for dinner with me tonight?"

"Absolutely not."

"Hermione, please, don't do this to me. Give me the chance to explain myself."

"You've had four years to explain yourself."

"You left immediately after graduation with Potter. No one, absolutely no one knew where you were."

"Or maybe you were just looking in the wrong places."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Draco asked.

"Never mind. Well, that concludes this tour, if you'd like to take another look later, or would like to make an offer on it, please call my office in the morning."

"So, now you want me to call you?"

"Draco, I'm serious."

"So am I, I seriously want to take you out for dinner. Please?"

"No." Hermione turned around.

Draco walked over to her, stood in front of her, took both of her hands in his, and made his piercing silver eyes dig deep into her chocolate brown eyes.

Hermione gasped a little as he looked into her eyes. She felt an electric shock going through her body. He was right last night, the spark was still alive.

"Hermione, one more chance, that is all I am asking. Dinner tonight, let me explain myself, then if you still don't want me to be around, I will leave you alone. No more phone calls, no more being around your office, nothing. It'll be as though I never existed."

Hermione thought about it for a moment. "Fine." she said. Draco grinned, showing his perfectly straight, pearly teeth. "But," she continued, "don't screw it up."


	7. Dinner

Hermione pulled out of the drive way and began to curse herself immediately.

'Why the hell did I agree to go out with him again. GOD, I am such a twit! I hate when he does this to me. He always has me right where he bloody wants me.'

Hermione cranked up the radio in her car trying to drown out her thoughts, but nothing was doing it. All she could hope for that he screwed up this dinner, because she was beginning to get sick of all of this.

..-..

Draco was smiling to himself. He watched as Hermione pulled out of the driveway and waved as she drove off. He knew that this really was going to be his last chance. He had a plan slowly formulating in his head. He got into his car and began to drive.

He had a couple of stops to make before going home to get ready. He also needed to find out why the hell Pansy was going around saying they were engaged.

"Over my dead body!" he muttered to himself as he pulled into the local butchers. He parked his car and got out. He walked to the entrance of the shop, and a man with jet black hair and glasses, who wasn't paying attention, nearly slammed the door in his face.

"Woah!" Draco yelled at the man.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Harry looked up from the bag he was holding in hand. Seeing that Draco stood facing him he grimaced. "Malfoy, congratulations on your engagement. I'm sure you and Pugsy, sorry, Pansy, will have a long and unhappy life together."

"Cool your jets, Potter." Malfoy scowled. "The day I marry Parkinson is the day that you lose that scar on your forehead."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "What exactly do you think you're playing at? And what the hell are you doing at the butchers?"

"I refuse to answer the first half of that. And I'm here because it's the only decent butcher's in town and I am in need of some fine muggle meat to impress my date this evening."

There it was, the famous smirk that Harry had grown used to over his seven years at Hogwarts. When him and Hermione had left for Canada, he was so sure he'd never have to see that stupid smirk again. Yet, here it was, right in front of him.

"Who in their right mind would agree to a date with you? Or is a nice muggle girl that daddy would approve of to fill in for a house elf?"

Draco was beginning to lose his temper. "Potter, leave my father out of this. He is included in my decision making as much as yours is. And I've got a date with Hermione tonight, haven't you heard?"

Harry's jaw dropped ever so slightly and Draco pushed past him into the butchers.

-.-

Hermione grabbed her phone as it went of notifying her of a text message. She opened the message from Harry.

"U R playin wit Fire. Don't u think?"

Hermione re-read the message for a couple of minutes. She still didn't know what he was on about, so she sent a simple reply.

"wtf? Come see me. Now."

The message sent and not five seconds later there was a loud crack in the kitchen. Hermione spun to look at her friend.

"What the hell are ya on about?"

"I just ran into Malfoy. Said he's got a date with you." Harry did not try to hid the disgust on his face.

Hermione sighed, "Technically that is true, but he kind of forced me into it. This is it though. We're just talking, going to have some closure. And believe me, if he keeps pestering me, I'll be leaving. I'll move away if I have too. Mark my words."

Harry looked at his best friends face. Oh, how it had changed since that first year at Hogwarts. The brown bushy hair had tamed itself, the spotty skin cleared, the rest of her teeth had grown in. She was gorgeous and she didn't even know it. Harry just didn't want to see her throw everything away over the same guy again.

Hermione had a serious look on her face, and Harry knew better than to question it at all. He simply nodded. Hermione smiled at him.

"I can't stay, I need to get back. I also have a date tonight." Harry winked.

"Oooh, with whom?" Hermione asked as she cocked an eyebrow.

Harry smiled. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Before Hermione could pry some more, Harry disappeared, leaving her standing in her kitchen alone. She had no more time to ponder as her phone started to ring. She walked over and checked the caller ID. It was Ingrid.

"Hey Ing." she answered the phone.

"Hey babe. How're ya holding up?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit tired, long day at work."

"Oh right. Are you planning on anything tonight?"

"Uhm. Why do you ask?" Hermione asked her friend, not wanting to admit that she was giving Draco another shot. That is just something that she knew that Ingrid would understand.

"Seb and I are going to see the Pink Panther tonight. Wondering if you'd like to tag along?"

Hermione was immediately relieved. "Gee, sorry love, I've seen it already. I went with Harry and…" she caught herself before listing off the rest of her group from school. "it was really good though. You both will enjoy it!"

Ingrid did not do a good job hiding her disappointment. "Oh. Okay then." there was a pause. "Well, we could go see something different?"

"No, no. You two go, and have fun. Maybe we can meet for brunch tomorrow. Saturday, no one has to work, we could make it a group thing? Say Cora's? About eleven thirty?"

"Sure. Sounds good. See you then." The line went dead before Hermione had a chance to say goodbye. She didn't give it another thought as she went and jump in the shower after sending a group text message about the brunch date, sending another to Ana if she would mind ringing up to book a table for the eight of them.

Hermione lost herself in thought as the hot water streamed down on her. She thought about how blissful the past four years had been since leaving Hogwarts. She enjoyed her job, she had great friends in her new home and she'd been free from huge heartbreak, save Derek. But even that wasn't too bad. She'd just written him off, and he'd let her after a bit of pestering.

But, her she was, confronting her past yet again. She began to wonder how the hell her and Draco had met up again. And why had he come here out of all of the other place in the world to go? She didn't understand. Even when they had been together at school, Draco had never shown any interest in leaving the Muggle world, let alone moving into it. So what was he doing here? There was no doubt that he had been adjusting nicely. He have a mobile phone, a car, and ate Muggle food, as he'd displayed at Outrider's. How he'd learned to use all of these things was beyond her.

She stepped out of the shower and walked over to her closet. She'd just realized that she didn't know where Draco was taking her and what time they were leaving. She looked at the clock on her nightstand. It read five forty-five. She decided it was best to get ready now and then she could have a glass of wine or two to calm herself before Draco arrived.

She picked out her little white dress. It was very flattering on her. A tight bodice and then it puffed out a little bit at the skirt and ended about two and a half inches above the knee. She matched it with a pair of white strappy Manolo's and did her make-up to look natural. When she finished she looked at the clock again, this time it read six-fifteen.

Hermione sighed as she headed downstairs and poured herself a glass of Chenin Blanc. She sat down and turned on the television to pass time until Draco arrived.

-.-

Draco looked around his kitchen. Everything seemed to be in place. The lamb was roasting in the oven, the potatoes were simmering on the oven and the vegetables were on the cutting board waiting to be cooked. He took a quick look at the time, six thirty-five.

He secretly praised his mother for teaching him to cook as a child. Narcissa had believed that Draco should know how to cook for his wife when he got older. That was before Lucius had placed her under the Imperius Spell and changed her entire way of life.

Draco shook his head. He did not want to think about that now. Right now, he needed to get ready for his dinner with Hermione. He ran for a quick shower and dressed in some nice jeans and a black button down shirt with silver hemming. He quickly went back into the kitchen to check the lamb and potatoes.

At seven o'clock on the dot, he apperated into Hermione's kitchen.

-.-

Hermione heard a loud crack from the kitchen and heard footsteps coming towards her living room. She spun around to see Draco there with a smile on his face. She admitted that he looked good. Not over dressed and his hair was still damp from coming out of the shower. She caught her breath a moment before releasing it. He looked exactly like he had when they were together in their common room 4 years ago.

"Hello. Are you ready?" he smirked to himself when he noticed her reaction to him.

Hermione nodded as she stood up. Draco couldn't help but catch his breath now. She was stunning in a white simple dress that flared at the waist and ended just above her knee. Her hair was tied back in a little knot and her make up was simple, yet elegant.

"Where are we going anyways?" She asked as she walked to the kitchen to put her wine glass to be washed.

"Take my hand and I'll show you,: he extended his hand to her with a mischievous look in his eyes.

Hermione eyed him for a moment before reluctantly taking his hand.

The familiar feeling came over her and she was instantly in a completely different place. She looked around. They were in a sitting room of some sort. She looked around as she took in the nicely decorated room. There was a nice wrap around sofa in the corner that was a dark chocolate colour, and the entire room was dark chocolate and white.

"Where are we?" Hermione asked.

"My flat. Would you like a glass of wine?"

Hermione simply nodded and followed him as he made his way to the kitchen. She took in the corridor they were in and noticed it housed some artwork that she was not familiar with. When they got to the kitchen she began to recognize the lovely smell that was wafting through the air.

Draco handed her a glass of red wine and motioned for her to take a seat on one of the bar stools by the counter.

"Wow, this place is lovely."

"Thank you. It does the trick anyways."

Hermione nodded once again, and took a sip of her wine. Merlot. She loved it. She looked around the kitchen. It was different than the living room. It was red and black this time. It worked somehow.

She watch him as he went to the oven and open it to check the contents inside of it.

"You never told me you could cook." She stated, implying the question 'why the hell not?'.

Draco nodded. "My mother taught me as a child. Even before Hogwarts. I was probably about seven or eight. One of the most useful things I've learned from either of my parents." he chuckled.

There was a silence as Draco went about the kitchen looking for his herbs. He sprinkled something into the dish in the oven. He then fussed over the potatoes a moment before putting a pot of water onto a different burner for his vegetables.

Hermione took a deep breath in. Lamb, she recognized the scent as. She was extremely impressed.

"Why are you here?" Hermione asked bluntly.

Draco gave her a quizzical look. "Well, I'm cooking for you."

Hermione cocked her head to the side. "You know what I mean, why are you in Cold Lake of all places?"

"Well," he started. "After school, my father was pressuring me to get the Mark. As you know, it wasn't something that I was particularly interested in doing. I didn't have any other career options at that point in time, so I moved to Cyprus, where I worked for their ministry in the Muggle Relations department. Part of my training was that I had to live in the Muggle world for three months without being detected. I always have loved a challenge," he winked at her before continuing, "and thought it would be a new experience. It was tough. They took my wand from me, and I had to survive on my own. But it was an eye opener. I learned about all of these things that I'd been sheltered from. Like the telephone! That thing is amazing! And the television, it's so entertaining. Although, it was hard to understand it in Cyprus because all of the programs were in either Turkish or Greek."

Hermione smiled. "That still doesn't answer why you are here."

"Oh right, sorry." he smiled as he took the lamb from the oven. "Well, after the three months in the Muggle world, I wanted to see more of the Muggle world. So, I worked for a year, saved up some money, and since then I've been travelling off and on, and I thought I would give a go at working a Muggle job. Canada is somewhere that I haven't been before and then I got a job offer working as a civilian on the military base, doing Civilian and Military relations. So, here I am."

Hermione nodded slowly as she watched him skilfully carve the rack of lamb and place them onto the plates. He then placed some dauphinoise potatoes onto the plates followed by a selection of vegetables. He walked over and took her hand to lead her into the dining room. She followed him and sat down at the small dining table. He left for the kitchen and returned with the two plates of food.

He sat down after placing a plate in front of Hermione and looked at her. "Thanks for coming tonight."

Hermione nodded.

"I know you didn't want too. I hope you won't regret it by the end of the night."

Another nod.

"I know I don't deserve it."

Yet another nod.

Draco gave up. "Well, dig in." He smiled as he picked up his knife and fork. Hermione mimicked the motions and began to cut into the succulent looking lamb.

They were about half way when Hermione spoke.

"Well, I'm glad that your mother taught you how to cook." She smiled at him.

"Me too. I don't think I've ever seen you so quiet."

She knew that he was joking, but she glared at him anyways. It was instinct these days. She softened her face almost instantly. She looked into his eyes.

**FLASHBACK**

She gaped at him. She didn't know what to say to him. She didn't even know if she had heard him right.

"Hermione?" he asked slowly.

Hermione only nodded.

"Did you hear me?"

Another nod.

"And…?"

"And, I think I need you to repeat it so that I can confirm that I heard you right."

Draco shook his head at her. "I love you."

"I thought that's what you said…" she muttered as he leaned in to give her a tender kiss.

**END FLASHBACK**

She continued eating her meal.

"Thanks again for coming tonight." Draco said.

"You're welcome. Not that I really had much of a choice." she raised an eyebrow at him.

"True. I can be very persuasive."

"Oh, is that what you call it?" she joked.

"Yep."

Hermione rolled her eyes as she chewed the last piece of potato on her plate. Draco watched her from the corner of his eyes. In so many ways she had changed, but in so many ways she was exactly the same. Her attitude and the way she carried and presented herself was the same, but she looked completely different. Draco didn't care though, either way, she looked absolutely beautiful.

Hermione noticed him sizing her up and became a little bit self conscious.

"May I use your washroom?"

Draco nodded, "down the corridor on the right before the bedroom."

Hermione got up and walked to the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror to make sure she didn't have anything in her teeth. She played with a few hairs sticking out as she gave herself a silent pep talk.

'Right, what the hell are you doing Hermione Granger? This is not right. You came here to get an explanation. You are going to march out there and demand one!'

She gave herself one more quick look in the mirror and departed the bathroom. She found Draco in the kitchen. The plates were cleared from the table in the dining room and the kitchen looked as though it hadn't been cooked in. Hermione also noticed that her wine glass had been topped up.

Draco walked over to his guest and handed her the wine glass.

"Would you like to join me in the living room?" he asked, leading her there before she could answer. They sat on the sofa in silence once again.

It wasn't an awkward silence though, more of a comforting silence.

Hermione reminded herself once more that she came to get answers, and answers she was determined to get. She took a sip of wine and a deep breath before turning to Draco.

"What happened?" she asked.

Draco looked at her. He knew that this had been coming. "Where do you want me to begin."

"The beginning, I suppose."

Draco took a deep breath. "Well, I don't remember much, I mean, I was only a baby…"

Hermione gave him a funny look. "You know what I mean."

Draco nodded and took a drink from his glass.

"Well, I'm not too sure. One minute things were great between us. I mean, even Potter and Weasley saw it. They had begun to accept the fact that we were together. I thought things were going great. And then we started fighting all the time."

Hermione nodded as she remembered. Things had been great. They had had little arguments from time to time, but that was mostly just because there was nothing else to do and they liked to mess around with each other. Then that one fateful day. She had had a long day, he had had a long day and both of them were taking it out on the other one. It was essentially a fight over absolutely nothing, but it had escalated. They began to fight every other day. Granted they made up within a three hour period, but it wasn't any good. Fighting this much, they both knew, wasn't good for any relationship.

"Then that one day," Draco continued, "you said that you would be back late because you were helping Potter and Weasley study for their NEWTs. Pansy asked if I would help her study, and I was jealous that you had blown me off for them, so I said yes. At the time, I honestly did think it would be studying. I had no idea that she had intended on, oh, what's the Muggle phrase for it?" he paused for a moment thinking. "Oh yeah, playing doctor. She just started to kiss me. And low and behold, you walked in at that moment."

She nodded, remember the moment more vividly that she cared too. All of the emotions she felt then came back to her now. It was not something she really enjoyed.

"By the way, you never did explain why you were back so early." Draco looked at her as he took another sip of wine.

Hermione sat up straight. "I felt bad about blowing you off. I was coming to talk to you for a few minutes while I was waiting for them to get back from dinner."

Draco nodded, feeling even worse.

"I never did go and help them study," Hermione continued. "I went for a walk. I went to our spot on the eighth floor."

Draco nodded again, remembering the room behind that tapestry. They had found it while they were out on patrol one night. They had been so curious, they pulled it back to find an average sized room with sofa's and loads of cushions in it. They often went there when they didn't want to be found.

"I figured I at least owed you an opportunity to explain yourself, so I went back. And walked in…"

"On the exact same scene that you had left."

Hermione nodded, willing herself not to cry.

"Why was she even still there?"

"I tried to get rid of her. She said that she really did want to study, and then put on a sap story about her dad abusing her if she failed. I felt bad for her in a way, so I said that I would help her study and only study. We had just finished and she was getting ready to leave when she pounced again. And Merlin's law, you walked in again."

Hermione nodded. "I see" was all she said before downing her glass of wine. Draco picked up the bottle off the coffee table and filled her glass once again.

"I never meant to hurt you. I would never want to hurt you. I hated that it had happened like that." Draco said to her after a moment.

Hermione did not move or speak. Deep down, she knew that was true but part of her was still telling her that it was a bad idea to get involved with him again, no matter how much she wanted too.

She did not know what to do, so she took another sip of wine and looked at him.

He was watching her carefully. Sizing her up, trying to anticipate her next move. She never had been easy to read.

"I believe you," she said eventually.

Draco let out a slight sigh of relief before speaking again, "I'm also sorry that I had to stalk you in order to get all of this sorted out."

Hermione managed a weak smile. "I accept your apology. I know that I can be a bit stubborn. And I also forgive you for not making it to dinner last night, although it was a bit embarrassing."

"I'm so sorry. But like I said to Potter, Lucius showed up, and I couldn't get rid of him."

Hermione nodded once more.

They sat in silence as they finished their wine. Hermione set her empty glass down and stood up.

"Is it true that you were on a date with Pansy in London the other night?"

Draco looked up at her. "Unfortunately, yes. Only because our mothers set it up."

Hermione nodded. She did not seem angry or upset, which Draco took as a good sign.

"I should be heading off. I have to be up in the morning."

"It's Saturday tomorrow. You can not possibly be working." Draco stood up.

"No," she shook her head. "I've got some stuff to do is all. Thank you for dinner it was lovely."

She leaned in to give him a quick kiss on the cheek and was about to disapperate when Draco grabbed her hand.

"Can I see you again?" he asked.

Hermione was silent. She pondered it for a moment before quickly nodding.

"I'll be out again tomorrow night if you would like to come out."

With that, she left the room with a cracking sound, leaving Draco in his living room alone and smiling.

-.-

A/N: So, I realized it's been three years since I've updated. But you know when you get interested in things that you kind of grew out of? That happened to me! Haha. So, I don't know if anyone is reading this, but if you do, I'd appreciate a review! Cheers!


	8. Contract

Hermione arrived in her bedroom and slowly made her way to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth, the evening playing over and over again in her head. The feeling in her gut that she hadn't felt since seventh year was very distinctive and very obvious. It was crazy for her to think that things would have changed at all. She knew, deep down, that they were both the same people that the other one had fallen for all those years ago.

She put her toothbrush away and stared at herself in the mirror. The woman looking back at her certainly looked different. Her hair was sleek and calm, not bushy and out of control. Her teeth had been fixed by a Medi-Witch at St. Mungo's, and she worked out three times a week to stay toned and in shape. But on the inside Hermione still preferred to curl up with a good book than play a game of Wizard's Chess, her friends came first over anything and she would follow Harry and Ron through any sort of adventure they found themselves getting into.

She sighed to herself as she turned from the mirror and walked back to her bedroom. She took of her dress and hung it back up Her heels went back into their space in the closet and her jewellery set back on her vanity. Putting on her joggers and a vest top, she lay down on top of the covers on her bed, once more thinking about her evening with her former flame.

As far as she could tell, he was making a solid effort. He had explanations for everything and did not hesitate to answer any of her questions. Whether this was because he'd been prepared for it or whether it was because he'd been telling the honest truth, she wasn't entirely sure.

She shook her head vigorously for a moment, trying to clear the thought from her head. 'This is ridiculous Hermione!' she thought to herself. 'He wouldn't be lying. He knows how easy it is to find out if he was. One call to Harry and Ron and they'd be on the case. He'd be stupid to lie, so there's no way he told me anything but the truth tonight.'

She sighed and in an attempt to clear her mind, she opened the nearest book to her. "Hogwarts, A History" the cover read.

Within five minutes, the book was open on her chest, and Hermione was snoring lightly.

-.-

Draco woke up the next morning with a huge smile on his face. It took him a moment to remember why. As he rolled over, he stretched out and began to sit up. A loud crack coming from outside his bedroom made him freeze for a moment. He then heard footsteps making their way down the hall towards the bedroom. He grabbed his wand from the nightstand and held it at the ready.

"Drakie?" a high pitched voice asked.

"Pansy?" he asked in a shocked voice. "Is that you?" Draco got out of his bed and made it too his bedroom door, wand still at the ready.

"Yes, darling, it's me. I've come to speak with you about some arrangements."

Draco slowly opened his bedroom door and saw Pansy smiling sweetly. He wasn't sure what arrangements she was talking about for definite, but he had a sneaking suspicion it was something to do about this wedding rumour going around. He wasn't even sure how she'd gotten here. He'd sure as hell never told her where his flat was.

"How did you find me?" he asked yawning and walking towards the kitchen. Coffee. He needed coffee.

Pansy started following him and said "Darling, your father told me. I said to him that it was urgent that we begin to plan. I need to get this all underway so we can have a proper spring wedding."

Draco froze, coffee grinds half poured into the filter. He knew it. She was here about the wedding. Well, her fantasy wedding.

He began to move again, trying to act as normal as possible. "Pansy, hold out your left hand?"

Pansy looked at him with her head cocked to the side for a moment before holding her left hand out to him.

"Now you look. Do you see a ring on there?"

Pansy shook her head no.

"Right, and have I EVER proposed to you, or in anyway insinuated that we would wed?"

Another shake of the head.

"Then where the FUCK is all of this coming from? If I didn't propose, and you have no ring, then how the hell did this idea get into your head."

"Well, it was my birthday on Wednesday. I finally turned twenty one."

He had no idea what that had to do with anything, so he let her go on.

"The contract, that was drawn up when we were children. Our parents drew it up saying that if either of us lived to be twenty one and both of us were out of wedlock, that the two of us would join in holy matrimony. All four of our parents vowed on it."

Draco nearly fainted. "You're lying," he hissed, narrowing his eyes at her.

Pansy once again shook her head no. "Didn't Lucius or Narcissa tell you anything about it?"

"UH… NO!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Pansy jumped in surprise and took a step back.

"Well," she started. "Personally, I think it's a brilliant idea. WitchWeekly stated that witches who reach the age of twenty one and are unmarried only have a thirty percent chance of marrying at all. Of course, warlocks are a bit higher, but only because the over twenty one witches, or the ones that are nearly there, are terrified of their expiry dates."

It was Draco's turn to shake his head. "No. No fucking way. No way in the name of Slytherin. I am not marrying you. Sorry, but it's just not going to happen."

Pansy looked hurt for a moment before regaining her poise. "I'm afraid you haven't much of a choice. You lose something of your affection if you decide not to follow through in the contract."

Before Draco could question what he had just heard, Pansy disappeared with a loud crack. Draco downed a cup of coffee out of the pot that had just finished brewing and began to fume.

What the hell had his parents gotten him into. This was a disaster. He wouldn't be putting up with this. He stormed to his room, quickly got dressed and made his way to the fireplace. He was going to get to the bottom of this, one way or another.

-.-

Hermione woke the next morning with a pain in her neck. Upon further inspection, she realized she had fallen asleep half sitting, half laying down on her bed reading her book. She sat up, set her book aside and stretched in an attempt to get rid of the kink in her neck.

She winced as the pain only worsened. Deciding that a hot shower would help, she jumped in and started to get herself ready for brunch with her friends.

A hour later, she was ready to go. She'd done her hair, make-up and picked out a cute little outfit. A pair of dark skinny jeans, a dark green tube top and a pair of brown wedges. The only problem was that this kink in her neck was not going away. She was in pain, but knew she couldn't bail on her friends. Especially Harry. He would assume Draco had done something to her, and the last thing she wanted was for Harry to go on some wild hunt for Draco.

It was five past eleven when her phone starting buzzing. She opened the text message she'd just received from Harry.

'U still coming 2 brunch?xx'

She replied with a simple 'Yes' and went to make herself a quick cup of tea. She was adding sugar as her phone went off again.

'Can U plz pick me up? I'm a bit rough… xx'

Hermione looked at the message. She reread it. Hadn't Harry said he also had a date last night? Surely he wouldn't have gotten extremely drunk if he was in the presence of someone he was trying to impress. That was just not like him. She replied telling him that she'd be there in ten minutes, and put her tea to the side. She grabbed her bag and car keys and headed out to her car.

Before setting off, Hermione put the top down on her Mustang and picked some good music for the drive. Nicki Minaj's 'Superbass' came on over the stereo and she cranked it up.

Driving to Harry's was a familiar route. Looking around at the apartment buildings before Harry's house, she felt a bit weird. Like someone was watching her. She slowed down a bit and looked around again, wincing in pain from her neck. She didn't see anyone. She made her way past all of the buildings and pulled into Harry's drive. She tried to ignore the strange feeling of being watched, but it was not happening.

'Great, first a kink in the neck, then this. Bloody great.' She thought to herself as she watched Harry walk onto his veranda.

He made his way to the passenger's door. "Mornin'," he grunted.

Hermione gaped at him. He was in crumpled clothes, his hair was a mess and he reeked of fire whisky. The first two weren't an entire surprise, he had said he was feeling a bit rough, but this was crazy. His clothes had enormous wrinkles and liquid stains, and it looked like he had vomit in his hair.

"Harry, with all due respect, what the fuck do you think your doing? Do you realize how you look, have you smelled yourself this morning? I love you, and because of that, I refuse to let you enter my car before you at least Scrougify yourself."

Harry weakly took out his wand, pointed it at himself and muttered "scrougify". Instantly, all the stains were gone, wrinkles lessened and his hair was clean. He still smelled of fire whisky though. She opened the glove compartment and pulled out a small vile with a blue-ish liquid in it.

"Drink this," she instructed as he sat down in the passenger's seat.

"What is it?" Harry asked, opening the vile.

"It's called Mi Fanno Buon Odore. It makes you smell a whole hell of a lot better."

Harry took a swig and Hermione immediately noticed the difference. He smelled like the Harry she knew. Fresh, with a bit of testosterone on the side.

Hermione backed out of the drive, and headed towards Cora's. Luckily for her, she didn't have to pass all of those apartment buildings this time.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened, or are you going to make me guess?" Hermione asked her friend.

Harry took a deep breath. "In short, I got stood up, and then met up with someone else. We both had a rough day, so we sat down and started talking. Then we started to share a bottle of wine, then we went onto beers, and then, to top it off, we were doing shots of tequila, fireball and sambuca. The next thing I remember is waking up, looking at the time and texting you."

"Who stood you up?"

"Megann Parks? She did that exchange program between L'Ecole de Magie Montreal and L'Ecole de Magie Fort MacMurray when we were there after graduation. We saw each other a few weeks ago when I was in Edmonton for work. We were at the same bar and started chatting. We ended up sleeping together that night. The next day, it wasn't awkward like most of those things are. We just picked up where we left off. We later decided to go on a proper date. It was supposed to be last night." Harry looked out the window.

Hermione just nodded. She remembered the girl. They had all met when Harry and her had gone to the Canadian School of Magic in Fort Mac, Alberta to drop off an important parcel from Dumbledore. They were instructed to only give the parcel to that school's Headmaster, Professor Beshutzer. When they had arrived, Beshutzer was away on other business so the other professors suggested they stay. It wasn't quite summer holiday's here yet, and the last week of school consisted of an exchange between the school's different locations. Megann Parks, who was from Montreal, had come to Fort MacMurray for the week. Hermione, Harry and Megann got along famously. The three of them hung out when Megann wasn't in lessons and ate meals together. Although, after Harry and Hermione had completed their final assignment from Dumbledore, they had lost touch with Megann.

"And who did you meet up with?" Hermione was trying to go through her head of people whom Harry might have gotten so drunk with.

She pulled into the Cora's parking lot and took the keys out of the car's ignition. She sat and waited for Harry's answer.

"Pansy Parkinson."

Hermione's jaw dropped. She was about to flip on him, when there was a beep of a horn from a car pulling into the lot. The two whipped around to see Ingrid's little blue car pull in beside them.

-.-

Everyone had arrived and they were all sitting down looking at menu's. They had ordered some drinks, Ingrid was telling Ana about the movie from the night before, Seb, Tony and Alex were discussing some fishing plans, Ashley was telling Hermione about some new moisturizer she had found online and Harry was sitting there, waiting for his cup of coffee.

Trying to recall what happened the previous night was harder than normal. How much had he drank? He remembered the wine, there was three bottles of Chardonnay, then they went to a different bar, and started on Molson, there was about five pints of that. Then he remembered the bartender buying them both a shot of Sambuca. That's all of the clear things he could remember. He vaguely remembered Pansy ordering more shots. There was at least four of Tequila and four of Fireball.

Harry took a swig of coffee when it arrived and he immediately started to feel a bit better. He was trying to remember what happened after the tequila and fireball when Ingrid interrupted his thoughts, who was sitting to his right.

"By the way, Harry. What are you wearing? It smells divine." She leaned in to take a sniff. "Like warm blueberry muffins and almond essence."

Hermione's eyebrows raised a little. She hadn't explained to Harry that Mi Fanno Buon Odore was similar to Amortentia in the sense that the person who was smelling it would smell the things they enjoyed the most.

Ana, who was on the other side of Ingrid leaned over her friend to take a whiff as well. "You're crazy Ing. Harry smells of strawberries and vanilla. Mmm, my favourite Harry."

Harry gave Hermione a quick questioning look. Hermione just smiled and giggled as she stood up to lean across the table. She took a deep whiff.

"All I can smell is bloody testosterone."

Everyone laughed, and luckily the subject was dropped due to the waitress coming over to take their order.

Brunch was finished about two hours later and they all went their separate ways after agreeing to meet at 9:30 for their regular Saturday night out.

Hermione and Harry got back into her car. Hermione was about to question him on the Pansy bombshell from earlier, but Harry held up his hand to her before she could begin.

"How was YOUR night with Malfoy?"

Hermione smiled. "It was nice. We talked, our dinner was lovely, and he cooked it all himself! Who knew the man could cook? The wine was splendid."

"Hold on, I thought this was all about closure. You're speaking as if it's the start of a relationship again."

Hermione shrugged. "It might be. I don't know." She let out a sigh as she manoeuvred the car around a corner. "It's really hard to say. Things last night were absolutely perfect." She suddenly remembered that she had invited Draco out with them that night. She would tell Harry in a moment, after the angry expression on his face left.

"WHAT THE HELL, HERMIONE! What are you thinking? He's not changed at all. He's the same person. He broke your heart. He's… He's… SLYTHERIN"

Hermione nodded. "That he did. And so did Viktor and Ron, but in the end, everything worked out, didn't it. So, I don't see why I can't try again with Draco. And don't you dare give me that Slytherin crap. Care to fill me in on your hot date with a Slytherin?" Hermione fired back as she pulled into Harry's drive for the second time that day.

Harry glowered at her. "Mine wasn't premeditated, and it's not something I particularly enjoyed in the end. As far as I'm concerned, I got pissed and now I'm paying for it. Thank Merlin my headache is gone, or I'd be making you take me to the chemist for some paracetamol."

Harry got out of the car and closed the door. He paused a moment before turning to look at her.

"Look, I'll probably never see Pansy again anyways, so it's not a big deal. And I'm sorry that I freaked out on you. I care about you, that's all. I know you're a big girl and know how to take care of yourself, so if you want to give it another go with Malfoy, then I'll be happy for you and support your decision. I will also be here when he breaks your heart again."

Hermione nodded and started to reverse out of the drive.

"Try to be optimistic sometime Harry! ALSO, I INVITED DRACO OUT WITH US TONIGHT! SEE YOU AT HALF NINE." She yelled the last part as she started to drive away, leaving Harry fuming as he stood in his drive.

"Dammit, 'Mione. Now I actually have to talk to the bastard." Harry muttered to himself.

-.-

Draco arrived at the house he was raised in. Nothing ever changed in here. It was always dark and a bit mank in the dungeons, and the rest of the house just dark. He arrived in the Entrance Hall.

"Hello?" he called out.

"Draco? Is that you, darling?" his mothers voice wafted down the grand staircase. "I'm in the Library."

Draco made his way up the stairs and headed to the open door of the library. He walked in and saw his mother reading one of her favourite books by Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Mother, lovely to see you."

Narcissa closed her book and looked up at her only son, with a wide smile on her face. "Likewise my darling Draco, especially since you chose a day when your father is not around and left before I woke, so I am myself today."

Draco was extremely happy. His mother was under the Imperius Curse most days of her life now. It was a rare occasion where his mother was able to be herself.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Narcissa asked her son.

"Well, I had a run in with Pansy this morning. She mentioned that there was a contract that you had willingly signed saying that if her and I were both not married by the time we were twenty one, we would be joined in marriage. Please tell me this is not true. And if it is, why the hell wasn't I informed?" Draco didn't like to curse at his mother, but he was extremely frustrated.

Narcissa put her book back on it's appropriate shelf. "It's very true Draco. And Pansy is a nice girl. Very respectable. You should be honoured to have her as your wife. This contract has been in place since before your first birthday. There is little way out of it."

"Mother, she is far from a respectable girl. Have you seen her bedpost? It's got more notches than Paris Hilton." Draco stopped for a moment, realizing his mother would not understand the comparison. "Pansy is a slag. I don't like referring to people like that, but Pansy is not someone that I am remotely interested in spending the rest of my life with. She's manipulative, controlling, rude and self-absorbed. Why in the world would you do something like this?"

Draco loved his mother, but sometimes she could be really thick. And when she'd signed the contract, she must have been out of her mind.

"Draco, you should not speak like that. I wish I could have you stay, but I am having Mrs. Parkinson, Mrs. Goyle and Mrs. Crabbe over for dinner. I will owl you a copy of the contract before their arrival for you to look at. But I promise you, you will be going through with this wedding."

Narcissa turned and stalked out of the Library. Lucius may have been gone for the day, but his mother must have still been under some sort of curse, or living off of the remains of the most recent one cast, because that did not sound like his mother at all.

-.-

Draco didn't know what to do. His mother had just confirmed his worst fears. He was bound to marry Pansy.

"Bloody brilliant," he muttered to himself as he went back to the Entrance Hall fireplace to floo back to his flat. "I finally get Hermione to listen to me and now I'm being told I have to marry my worst nightmare. This is ridiculous."

He stepped into the fireplace and dropped the Floo powder. He was almost instantly back in his flat. He stepped out of his fireplace and walked towards the kitchen. Before he could get there, Draco heard a knock on his door.

He walked to the door and opened it. His jaw nearly dropped when he saw who it was.

"What the HELL are you doing here?"

"Look," Harry started. "It's not like I particularly want to be here. But I've been informed that you've been invited out tonight. Correct?"

"What's it to you?" Draco asked him.

"Because, Hermione's under the impression that we are going to Club 41. Little does she know that we've actually got a huge birthday dinner and party planned for her at Caesar's Palace." Harry explained, naming one of the city's best restaurants. "I'm not going to stop you from coming, because Hermione obviously wants to see you, or she wouldn't have invited you out tonight at all. So, I've come to give you the details. We're all meeting at my house at 7:30 to meet the limousine. We're picking Hermione up at 8PM sharp, but she doesn't know that yet. Ron, Ginny, Dean, Parvati, Lavender, Seamus and Neville are all apperating to mine later on today, and our muggle friends will be there as well. Ginny is going to go to Hermione's and "drag her" to dinner. When they leave the house at 8PM, we will be sitting outside in the limo, champagne at the ready. Questions?"

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Draco was confused. Apart from the run in outside the butchers, and the brief encounter at the club last week, Harry's last words to him were "if you even think about looking her way again, I'll bloody casterate you with a rusty fucking spork!" Although thinking it slowly, it sounded comical, but Draco was terrified by the way Harry had spoken it too him all those years ago.

"Because Hermione would want me too. And although I don't care much for you, I care loads for her."

"Right. So, what should I get her for her birthday gift?"

"It's up to you. I got her the new Hogwarts, A History and a book by her favourite Muggle author. The Hogwarts book will have to wait until after tonight though, because as I mentioned before, our muggle friends are coming, and they don't know about us. I think Ginny got her a book as well. Ron got her something from his brother's stores. Lavender, Parvati and Seamus got her some clothes, I think. And our muggle friends all chipped in on a holiday for her and a guest."

Draco nodded. "Okay then. So, 7:30? Where's your place?"

Harry told Draco the address and left. Draco stood in the doorway for another moment before turning and walking to his kitchen and looking at the time. It was nearly two in the afternoon, which meant it was nearly four in the afternoon in New York. He needed to get there before the shop he needed to get to closed. With a loud crack, he was on his way.

-.-

Hermione made it home after dropping Harry off. The pain in her neck was still there, but was starting to work itself out. She decided a nice bath and a glass of wine would help while she waited until it was time to begin to prepare herself for tonight.

She grabbed herself a glass of wine and ran herself a bubble bath. She turned some music on in the bedroom and turned it up so she could hear it. She got into the water and closed her eyes, willing herself to relax. Before she knew it, she was drifting off to sleep.

-.-

There was a series of loud cracks coming from Harry's living room. Harry ran down the stairs to welcome his former housemates. The group smiled at Harry and went around giving him hugs.

"Oh, I can't wait for tonight. Hermione's big 2-1. It should be so nice! It's going to be elegant and classy, isn't it Harry?" Parvati gushed.

Before Harry could respond, Seamus turned to her. "Calm down love. You can trust Harry to do exactly what Hermione'll like."

Harry thanked his friend and ran over the basic plan with them once again. Ginny nodded and looked at her watch. It was almost six thirty. She excused herself to go and get ready.

"Hold on, Gin. I've got a bombshell." Everyone looked at him with a puzzled look. "Malfoy's coming tonight as well."

Jaw's dropped, eyes grew as big as Frisbees and Ron burst out "COME AGAIN?"

"That's what she said." Ginny quirked. Bless her for trying to make the best out of any situation.

Harry just nodded. "Him and Hermione had dinner last night, and she invited him out with us tonight, under the impression that we were going clubbing, obviously, so I went to him today and explained what was happening."

No one said anything for a moment before Seamus piped up. "I hope you have your rusty spork ready, Harry."

-.-.-.-.-

Hi. So, I hope that anyone who is reading this liked it. Please review if you are reading and tell me what you think! Thanks much! J xx


	9. Birthday

Draco stepped out of the shop and into the end of summer heat. He smiled at the other people walking on the busy sidewalk and quickly made his way towards a more secluded area. The tiny box that held Hermione's gift held tight in his hand. He'd seen it in the window of Chanel in London a couple of weeks ago and was thankful that New York's store had one as well.

He made his way into a back alley where a homeless man had his back to Draco. He quickly disapperated home and made his way to the living room.

"Ah, Draco. There you are."

_Bloody hell_, Draco thought. _This is not what I need right now._

Draco turned to the man that was sat on the sofa. "Mr. Parkinson. What a nice surprise. I didn't expect to see you today."

"Yes, well," the man started as he stood up to shake Draco's extended hand. "I've come to speak to you about the wedding."

_Oh shit, _Draco thought. _This is really NOT what I need right now._

"I'm sorry? The wedding?" Draco asked. "Is everything okay?"

"Well, no. Not exactly. The contract is unbreakable, as I'm sure you know. There are so many different things that need to be considered. Now, I know that you were good in school, as I also know that you are a clever young man. You are gifted with and without your wand, as your Cruciatus is one of the best I've seen from someone."

Draco nodded and accepted the compliment. He had preformed the Cruciatus three times in his life. Once when he was in fifth year, he used it on his father to stop him from hurting his mother. After he finished with his father, he was a bit worried. He thought that Lucius would kill him. However, as he braced himself to run, he was shocked when Lucius came up and congratulated him on producing such a good curse. The second time, his father had made him cast it on their house-elf, in front of all of the death eaters he had over. The house-elf had done nothing wrong, but his father wanted to know if he could achieve it as he had before.

The third time had been during the battle in his final year.

**FLASHBACK**

It was about three days after he and Hermione had finished. He knew the attack was coming and was on his way up to their common room to warn her and keep her safe. He wouldn't have been able to handle it if anything had happened to her. He rounded a corner and saw a death eater outside of their portrait hole. The portrait started to open and Draco knew he couldn't waste any time.

"CRUCIO!" he yelled, pointing his wand at the intruder. The death eater instantly fell to the ground, screaming in pain. "Silencio!" He continued to torture the man until he seemed to weak to get up. He lifted the curse and stunned the man instead.

After casting the disillusionment charm on himself, Draco walked over to inspect who the intruder was. The man lay on the floor sprawled out with his limbs at weird angles. Draco leaned down to lift the mask of the death eater and hissed when he saw who it was.

He cast a disillusionment charm on Mr. Parkinson and levitated him up to Professor Dumbledore's office.

**END FLASHBACK**

"You are also very talented at Legilimency and Occlumency. There is no doubt," Mr. Parkinson continued, interrupting Draco's thoughts. "There is only one thing more that would make me truly happy and confident that you are the right choice for my daughter."

"And that is?"

"That you get The Mark. Make the commitment to the Dark Lord and your family. This will make everything right in the world again."

Draco looked at the middle-aged man. "I'm sorry, sir. But there is no way that I am getting the Mark. It is not something that I am particularly interested in. And now that Voldemort is no longer with us, I do not see the point in tattooing myself to become a part of a disbanded band of brothers."

Mr. Parkinson did not look impressed. "Kid, you listen and you listen good. You will not be marrying my daughter until you've gotten The Mark. And you will be marrying my daughter within the next twelve months. You should be honoured to be making her your wife."

"I would be honoured if it had been my decision, perhaps. Alas, I am not marrying her out of my own free will, so I don't see the need to be putting a smile on my face. Not to be rude, but I have engagements to I need to prepare for. So, if you'll kindly leave me to get ready, I will be in touch with you soon." Draco stood still to see the reaction from the man.

Mr. Parkinson did not move for a moment. It was clear that he had not expected Draco to say "no", let alone stand up for himself. He simply nodded and was gone with a crack.

"That was a close one," Draco muttered to himself as he went to his bathroom to take a shower.

-.-

Hermione was still in the bathtub some time later. She sat up and noticed that her neck was no longer bothering her. She got out of the now cool water and wrapped a towel around her. As she walked into her bedroom she took a glimpse at the clock, which showed that it was ten past seven. She decided to get a glass of wine to start the evening off. Walking into her kitchen, still wearing nothing but a towel, she poured a glass of water and enjoyed the silence.

Hermione thought about the night ahead of her. She was excited for the evening out after the long week, but on the other hand she was quite nervous. It was the first time that her friends would be meeting Draco, apart from Harry. She knew that Harry still didn't approve of her seeing Draco, but she knew he wouldn't be too hypocritical. Hermione knew that Harry had threatened Draco before they had fled to Canada, but Harry never had told her what he'd said. Everyone else knew what was said between the pair, but they had all refused to tell Hermione. She once considered spiking Harry's drink with a Veritaserum, but decided against it.

Hermione's thoughts were disturbed by a knocking on her front door. She walked over and took a peek out the peephole. She immediately opened the door and squealed in excitement. The redhead, in turn, jumped up and down and enveloped her friend in a cuddle.

"Ginny! What are you doing here?"

"Well, I needed a break, so we're going to dinner. Hurry up and get yourself looking glamorous!" Ginny smiled at her friend. "Now, it is quarter past seven and we need to be ready to leave by eight. Get going!"

-.-

Forty minutes later, Hermione had washed and styled her hair, changed and done her make up. She was wearing a baby blue halter dress with a pair of sparkly heels. The hem of her dress came to her kneecap and the dress was backless. Her hair was in a French twist with little stray curls going down past her shoulders. She wore a sparkly blue eye shadow that she made pop by adding black eyeliner and mascara. Her lips were light pink.

"Wow, you look stunning!" Ginny exclaimed as Hermione emerged from the bathroom. She took in her friends appearance before leading her down the stairs, where she had two glasses of champagne waiting.

Hermione accepted the flute that Ginny handed her and took a sip. "Thanks, babe."

Ginny smiled and raised her glass. "Here's to the beginning of a good night."

"I'll drink to that," Hermione smiled as she clinked her glass with Ginny's.

Ginny looked at the clock on Hermione's wall. "Right, it's time to go! Come on!" Ginny made her way to the front door and paused before opening it to wait for Hermione.

Hermione walked over and waited for Ginny to open the door. When it opened, Hermione's jaw dropped. Sitting in front of her house was a stretch white limousine, and out of the sun roof were Harry and Ron.

"Oi! Come on now! We don't have all night!" Ron yelled at her after letting her collect her thoughts for a minute.

Hermione closed her mouth and smiled. "What is all of this?"

"You didn't think we weren't going to celebrate your twenty-first birthday big style? Not a chance, now get your arse in here!" Harry grinned.

Hermione and Ginny made their way to the door that had just opened for them. Hermione climbed into the back of the vehicle first to see all of her friends there. She looked around and couldn't believe it. Dean, Parvati, Lavender, Seamus, Neville, Ron and Ginny were sat on one side of the car while Ashley, Ana, Seb, Ingrid, Angela, Tony, Alex and Harry were on the other. Draco sat by himself, obviously a bit uncomfortable, on the bench seat at the rear of the car.

Hermione smiled at everyone. "Oh my god. This is just so amazing!" She was so surprised. She had no expected this at all. She accepted another glass of champagne that was being handed to her and sat down next to Draco. She sat close to him, regardless of the glares all of her former Gryffindor housemates were sending in their direction.

Sat back as Harry stood. "Driver! Take it away please. First, Happy Birthday, 'Mione. We know your birthday isn't until Monday, but if we wanted this to be a proper surprise, we had to make it seem like it would be nothing out of the ordinary for you. Now, I know that not everyone knows everyone, so I'll introduce you all." He began to point and introduce everyone. He struggled when he reached Draco, but managed to not spit out his first name in disgust. Hermione smiled and reached for Draco's hand to give it a squeeze of encouragement, but pulled her hand back before she could. She looked around at all her other friends and smiled. Everyone had began to chat when Harry sat down, but they were interrupted when Ginny stood up.

"A toast!" she exclaimed. "To the birthday girl. May your evening be filled with fun, love, smiles and elegance!" she raised her champagne flute and took a sip before continuing. "Now, let's get messy and bring your twenty first year in with a bang!"

Everyone hooted and hollered apart from Draco, who sat silently, watching Hermione. She looked so happy. She had all of her old friends and all of her new friends with her to celebrate her birthday. He may not have seen much of her in the past four years, but he knew that that was the best birthday present she could have imagined. He had to hand it to Potter, he did pay attention to all the little details.

Hermione was drinking and laughing with Ana and Ingrid. She turned to see Draco staring at her and motioned him over.

Draco smiled and slid across the seat to be closer to the trio of women.

"Draco, this is Ana and Ingrid. Ladies, this is Draco." Hermione made the official introductions and rested her hand on Draco's knee.

Draco tried to ignore the sparks he felt when Hermione's hand landed on his leg, but it was proving rather difficult. Especially in the outfit she was wearing. It wasn't skanky or revealing in anyway, it just hugged in the right places and showed off enough to leave a man dreaming. And the colour suited her just so well.

"Nice to meet you," Draco smiled at the girls. "Hermione speaks highly of you."

"Likewise," Ingrid said, giggling.

"What? Nice to meet me, or Hermione speaks highly of me?" Draco smirked at Hermione and winked. Hermione scoffed playfully before taking another sip of champagne.

"Well, she didn't speak highly of you until after you sent over all of those gifts." Ana giggled.

Draco blushed a little. Hermione gaped at him. She'd only seen him blush once before.

**FLASHBACK**

_Oh my god, _Hermione thought to herself. She was so nervous, but on a completely different level, it felt so right.

Draco stood against the wall, watching her take off her last item of clothing. The lace knickers reached the floor and she looked back up to him. Hermione began to walk over to him and it was obvious he wanted her closer to him sooner, although he stayed where he was.

Hermione watched Draco's face as we glued his eyes at her feet. He watched her feet as they slowly began to make their way over to where he was standing by the door. He made his way up her legs and stopped where they met. It had been completely shaven and looked as smooth as the legs he'd just looked up. He continued to make his way up to her face, but stopped on her breasts. The handful's on her chest were round and perky, and her brownish nipples were hard in anticipation. When his eyes finally met with hers, he felt his cheeks grow warm.

**END FLASHBACK**

Hermione smiled at the memory and was shocked when a warm tingly feeling occurred between her legs. It had been a while since the feeling had come so quickly and so robustly.

Draco's colour faded away when he took another sip of champagne as Tony and Seb began to ask him about what he did. Draco then launched into a discussion about civilian relations for the Canadian Armed Forces.

Hermione sat back and watched all of her friends chatting and drinking for the rest of the drive. When they arrived at Caesar's Palace, they began to pile into the restaurant. Hermione was shocked. The whole place had been decorated in pinks, blues, silvers and blacks.

Tables had been set up that looked like they would be having a five course meal and they were being handed flutes of champagne as soon as they walked in the door. Hermione had to hand it to them, this had definitely been a surprise. This was something she had not expected in the least. She did presume they'd bombard her for a drink or something at work, but she did not expect this.

She looked around and saw Draco staring at her. Before she could walk over to him, Harry and Ron came over and wrapped their arms around her.

"What do you think?" Ron asked, using his free hand to motion around the building.

"I think you two have out done yourselves, truly. This is amazing. Thank you so much!"

Harry and Ron gave her a kiss on the cheek and motioned to the head of the table where she was meant to be sitting. Beside her chair was a table full of brightly wrapped gifts. Everyone sat down and their starters were brought out.

-.-

The meal was over, and Hermione was about to open all of her gifts. Ginny sat next to her and handed her the first present. It was wrapped in paper that had the Chudley Cannon's logo on it.

"This one must be from you, Ron," Hermione giggled. She then hiccupped. "Oh shit. I think I need some water before you lot pour more bubbly down my throat."

She took a sip of water from the glass Harry handed her and continued to unwrap the gift Ron had gotten her. She opened the box and found a little necklace with a heart on it. It was gold in colour with some fake stones in the center of the heart. She then noticed the paper that was laying underneath it.

_The wearer of this necklace will be the most attractive person in the room. Members of the opposite sex will not be able to resist the wearer's sexual energies and will do anything in their power to get the wearer's attention._

Hermione smiled to herself and then at Ron, trying hard not to laugh. "Thank you," she said as she passed the little box around. It said nothing of the spells that were cast upon it, so she also passed the paper around. Her muggle friends would laugh it off as a gag gift, while all of her magical friends would be dying for her to try it on.

Ginny handed the next gift to her. It was a rather heavy box, and quite a decent size. She ripped the paper off and threw the paper in different directions.

Draco watched as she tore into the large gift. When she finally rid the box of all the paper, Hermione opened the box. Draco watched as she began to pull out different clothing items. Some of them looking familiar for some reason. Hermione was laying them out in front of her. Draco realized a moment later that some of these clothes were part of a Hogwarts uniform. Knee high socks, black skirt, white blouse and black tie. Draco smiled as she pulled out a robe that had the Hogwarts logo emblazoned on it.

Draco watched as she realized what was going on. She began to laugh and he saw a glisten of tears in her eyes. He wanted nothing more but to go and console her, but he stayed where he was, watching from a distance.

"Seamus, Dean, Parvati and Lavender. What exactly are you doing to me?" she laughed, wiping away a tear that escaped.

"We just don't want ya to forgat who ya are, love." Seamus winked.

"Yeah, you naughty little school girl." Lavender winked at Hermione.

Draco didn't realize it at first, but there were more clothes that Hermione was pulling out of the box. He watched as she pulled out a pair of black stilettos, black stockings, a very short black kilt and a white blouse that had been cut off above the navel.

He raised an eyebrow as he watched, wondering how much coaxing it would take to get her into that outfit for him.

Hermione finished with that gift and had moved onto the next one. It appeared to be just a card, but when she opened the card, another piece of paper fell out. Hermione caught it and read it aloud:

"Hermione,

We truly believe that you work too hard. Thus, we are sending you away from work for ten days. We've paid for you and a friend to take a week in Santorini, all inclusive, and we don't want to hear any argument. You leave a week from tomorrow, so get your bags packed. And Ashley really wants to go! But the choice is yours.

Happy birthday.

Much love,

Ashley, Ana, Ingrid, Steph, Tony, Seb and Alex."

Draco watched Hermione as she looked around at her muggle friends.

"You guys, this is too much."

"STOP!" Alex held up his hand. "The note said no argument. You say, thank you, I love you, I'll bring you all back a present."

Hermione laughed and nodded, wiping away more tears. "Thank you, I love you and I'll bring you all back a present."

Draco smiled as he watched his ex-girlfriend. His heart couldn't help but ache when he looked at her, knowing that she may never be his ever again.

Hermione opened the last two remaining gifts. They were from Harry and Ginny, who had coincidentally gotten her the same book. Apparently there had been some confusion when Ginny said, "I will get her this one, you get her that one."

Hermione laughed it off and got up to make her way around the room to give everyone a hug.

The music began to play and everyone made their way to the dance floor. Draco made his way over to Hermione and held his hand out to her. They danced for a couple of minutes, just listening to the noises around them. Hermione leaned into his chest and heard his steady heartbeat. It was soothing to her. She hated that it was, but it made her feel safe.

Hermione got dragged off a moment later to dance with her girlfriends and the men went outside to smoke some cigars. Draco was about to hang back, when the most unlikely thing happened.

Seamus handed him a cigar and patted him on the back. "Com'on mate. Don't get all moody now. We all know what she's like when she's on champagne. You might still get lucky yet."

-.-

Draco stood in the corner, hidden by some shadows and watched Hermione as she drank more champagne and continued to dance with her friends. He was enjoying watching her, but couldn't get what the Irish lad had said to him before they'd gone out for a cigar. He'd been tempted to ask, but left it, instead asking Seamus about how life had been for him after leaving school. He'd found out that he had married Parvati Patil and they were currently trying for a baby.

He was happy for the both of them and wished Seamus good luck before excusing himself for the toilet. He went back inside and took care of his business before hiding himself.

He watched as Hermione popped open another bottle of champagne. She threw the cork over her shoulder and topped up everyone's glass. She looked around and caught glimpse of him. She squinted in his direction and began to stagger over to him. She was quite obviously drunk and Draco was rather amused.

"What are you laughing at?" Hermione asked as she got closer and looked for his glass. She noticed he didn't have one, so handed him hers.

Draco took the flute of the bubbly alcohol and smiled. "You. I've never seen you this drunk before. Or drunk at all, come to think of it."

Hermione laughed a little, "Well," she said.

Draco waited for a moment for her to continue. "Well, what?" he asked when she didn't continue.

"What?" Hermione asked, taking another sip of her champagne.

Draco shook his head and smiled. He put his hand into his pocket and felt the little box that held Hermione's gift. He thought about giving it to her then, but he decided that it wasn't the right time. He just took another sip of his drink before grabbing her glass out of Hermione's hand and setting both their drinks on the nearby table. He grabbed her hand and lead her to the dance floor. It was a slow song that Draco didn't recognize, but the melody was perfect.

Hermione smiled as Draco pulled her close and put his arms around her. She leaned in against his chest for the second time that evening and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she saw Ana, Ashley, Ingrid, Ginny and Parvati smiling at them. Steph and Tony were dancing as well while Lavender and Ron were walking towards the dance floor to join the other two couples. Ginny caught Hermione's eye and winked.

The song had finished and a more upbeat tune began to play, but Draco held Hermione to him a little bit longer. He finally let go when Harry called out her name.

"What?" she asked, spinning around.

Harry grinned and pulled two bottles of something out from behind his back. She started to walk to Harry to see what he was holding, but before she could reach him, Seamus called out her name from the other side of the room.

"What?" she yelled, spinning around.

"You'll need these to go with those!" Seamus beamed, pulling out a bag of lemons and a salt shaker.

Hermione stopped and grinned at both of her friends, who were walking over to her. "Have I mentioned that I fucking love you guys!"

Hermione grabbed the lemon and salt from Seamus as Harry began to pour the shots of tequila.

Draco stood and watched, bewildered. It suddenly dawned on him that she'd changed a hell of a lot more than he'd thought she had. He was beginning to like this party girl.

He smiled at Harry as he was passed a shot of tequila and a lemon wedge. Seamus turned around and passed the salt shaker to him as well.

"Birthday girl says ya get ta take the first shot wit 'er," Seamus winked.

Draco smirked and took the salt shaker. He turned to Hermione and smiled. "Cheers to you!" He took his shot.

"WOOO!" Hermione yelled and took her shot. She slammed her shot glass on the table and jumped onto Draco. Luckily, he reacted quickly, passing the salt back to Seamus as he caught Hermione as she jumped onto his torso.

"Harry, Ron, Seamus and Dean next! And another one for me!" She giggled. Harry poured the shots and handed them around.

"Next!" Hermione smiled, still being held by Draco. "EVERYONE! And another one for me."

-.-

As her eyes fluttered open, she struggled with keeping them open. It was so bright.

"Erghh, why didn't I close the curtains last night?" she mumbled to herself as she put a pillow over her head to block the light.

She was just dozing off again when she felt an arm snake around her waist. She snapped her eyes open and sat up. She looked behind her as saw a very tired, yet peaceful, looking Draco. He was snoring lightly and looked so innocent. Hermione looked around the room and realized that she was not in her room. The room was white and black with red accents.

She realized that she'd come home with Draco. She realized that she was still dressed, but not in the dress she'd gone out in. She had on some stockings, a kilt and her bra. She recognized the stockings and kilt as the ones she'd gotten from her friends the evening before.

_Fuck,_ she thought. _How the fuck did I let this happen?_

She tried to think back to the previous night, keeping her eyes closed. She remembered opening all of the gifts, she remembered drinking a lot of champagne and she also remembered dancing with Draco. As she searched through the blurry events of last night, she suddenly remembered Harry handing her two bottles of tequila. She had the first shot with Draco. She remembered that. The second one with the boys from Hogwarts. The third with everyone. The fourth with Ginny, Parvati, Lavender and Steph. The fifth with Draco again. The sixth with…

_Oh shit. Who was I doing them with after that?_

Hermione opened her eyes and watched Draco stir beside her.

_Coffee. I need coffee._

She got out of bed and pulled the duvet around her to cover herself up, leaving Draco without cover. She smiled as she took a peek at him. He hadn't changed much, but was a lot more toned. His legs were thick with muscle, his abdomen was toned and beautiful, even when it wasn't flexed, and his arms had great definition between the different muscles.

Hermione smiled as she took a cheeky glimpse at her favourite part of him. He was semi-erect and Hermione gasped. It looked bigger than it used to be. Not a whole lot, but noticeably. She thought back to the night before, trying to think of what they had done when they had gotten back here.

It hurt to think any more however, so Hermione looked around for a dressing gown. She only saw the shirt that Draco had worn the night before that looked almost as if it had been ripped off. She picked the shirt up and quickly checked to see it was not covered in vomit.

Hermione pulled the shirt on and began to do the buttons up. She got half way down and realized the buttons were now missing, little stray threads poking out where the buttons used to be.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,_ Hermione thought as she walked into the corridor. She padded down to the kitchen and didn't see a coffee maker anywhere. _Fuck, fuck, fuck._ She made her way back to the bedroom and looked for her handbag. She finally found it behind the door. She opened it and pulled out her wand, conjuring herself a cuppa. She was still squinting from the bright light, so she flicked her wand at the curtains and they pulled themselves shut.

Hermione smiled as she sat back down on the bed.

Draco rolled over once more to face her and she watched as he opened his eyes slowly.

"Ugh," he moaned. "What the hell did Potter put in that shit?"

"I was just thinking the same thing." Hermione moaned.

Draco shot up and looked at her, eyes wide open.

"Uhh.. Hi." he said, shocked.


	10. Morning After

**Warning**: There are some explicit details in this chapter. They don't go deep into detail, but there is sexual content.

-.-

Hermione gave him a questioning look.

Draco closed his eyes for a moment, obviously trying to concentrate. "Sorry," he said. "It's just that I forgot that you came back here."

"It's ok. I forgot that I'd come back here as well." she gave him a half smile.

Draco nodded, but kept his eyes shut.

Hermione conjured up another mug of coffee and put it in Draco's hand. He gave her a nod to thank her for the coffee and took a sip. His face instantly relaxed a bit and he opened his eyes to look at Hermione. They looked at each other for a moment before Hermione looked away. The eyes, the intensity of them. They were bringing back memories. Slowly, the events from the previous evening replayed themselves in her mind.

She remembered kissing him in front of everyone, she remembered grabbing her new clothes and putting them on in the restaurant's toilets. She had emerged and he'd taken her into a dark corner. They were making out feverishly, as if there was no tomorrow. So much energy and emotion went into their kisses. Within no time, Hermione was grinding up against Draco. She had wanted him so bad, and from the rock hard cock in his pants, it was obvious that he had wanted her too.

Hermione took another sip of coffee as she recalled more events. She'd done a sexy dance for everyone, then her and Draco had retreated to their corner once more. This time she had unzipped his trousers and given him a blow job. He'd come in her mouth, she'd swallowed it and then took another shot of tequila.

Draco had then led her into the disabled loo and went down on her. He'd licked, suckled and nipped until she was screaming his name. Hermione went bright red and moaned a little. God, she hoped they'd charmed the room or that the music was loud enough to drown her out.

Draco watched as she turned bright red and smiled slightly to himself. It was clearly obvious that Hermione was trying to recall every detail of the night before. Draco closed his eyes again and lay flat on his back. He didn't know what time it was and he didn't care. Remembering that he and his witch has spent the night together had sent him into a complete state of bliss. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this content, he only knew that it had been at least four years.

Draco took another sip of his coffee and smiled lazily. He propped himself up a little bit more and looked over to the girl beside him. He watched as she concentrated on thinking through last nights events. His smile grew a little bit as he recalled what happened as well.

After their trip to the disabled loo, they spent a few more minutes snogging heavily. They only tore apart when one of Hermione's muggle friends screamed for her to do more shots. He reluctantly followed her out of their dark corner as she made her way across the dance floor to take part in more shots. She had long taken off her shoes and was walking around barefoot. She had reached the group doing shots and got two of the small glasses. Hermione had turned to give him one, which he'd accepted. They did three more shots in that round before she had clung onto him once again.

"I'm a bit pissed," she giggled in his ear.

He had smiled at her and given her a sneaky kiss on the cheek before she left to dance with some more of the girls.

"Ugh. I am never drinking again." Hermione muttered, rubbing her temples and waking Draco from his reverie.

"I concur. That shit is liquid death." Draco mumbled, looking her in the eye.

"Tequila ta kill ya," she groaned.

"Huh?"

Hermione shook her head at him to signify that it wasn't worth explaining.

"I should go," Hermione stated, beginning to get up.

Draco reached out for her hand to stop her. "Why?"

"I shouldn't be here."

He gave her a questioning look. "Why the hell not?"

"Draco, doesn't it feel a bit weird for you?"

"On the contrary, I feel absolutely fine. Being here with you makes me happy. I know it's cheesy and cliché to say, but it's the truth."

Hermione looked at him in silence for a moment. He tried to look for some sort of emotion in her face, but it was difficult for him to read. Whether it was because of his hangover, her hangover or simply because she didn't know how to react he wasn't sure. She took a deep breath before replying to him.

"Thanks. I'm happy here too, but I don't want to ruin any of the plans that you may have for today."

Draco shook his head, "Not a chance. My plans are laying around my house and I'd enjoy having you around for company. If you want to leave, I won't make you stay, but you are more than welcome to stay. So long as we can sleep a bit more and you get me a glass of water."

Hermione considered it for a moment. Instead of giving him a direct answer, she lay back down, pulled the cover over her and closed her eyes.

"You have to get your own beverage."

-.-

Draco woke sometime later with Hermione's hair sprawled across his face. He smiled to himself and placed a small kiss in the mess of hair. He pulled his head back and began to lift the arm that held her close to him. He stopped as Hermione stirred in her slumber. Making sure she was still sound asleep, Draco lifted his head and watched her face as he pulled his arm away again. He got up and found a pair of boxers. Pulling them on, he went to the toilet.

He thought of how so much had changed in the last week. He paused for a moment on the last part. It had only been a mere week since she'd come back into his life. It was almost as if nothing had changed, apart from maturing a bit more on both parties half. The thing that he was most proud of was that he had learned to stand up to his father a bit more, although he was still a bit terrified of the man. He would never admit it to anyone, but the only reason he hadn't told his father to get lost was because he didn't want a load of his extended family coming after him. It was easier to put up with his father's weekly visits and deal with the constant insults and degrading than it was to have everyone from Aunt Bella to the late Regulus Black on his case.

Shaking the thought from his head, he made his way to the kitchen. He was about to get a glass of orange juice when there was a whooshing sound from the living room. He paused for a moment and didn't hear any one's foot steps, so he made his way slowly to the living room, wand at the ready.

As he peered around the corner, he let out a sigh of relief. He went over to pick up the rather large manila envelope. He ripped it open and pulled out the first small piece of paper.

_Draco,_

_Here are the papers that I promised to you. I apologize for them being late. The ladies showed up earlier than planned. Just to warn you that you are wasting your time if you are trying to find a way out of this contract._

_Love always,_

_Mother_

Draco pulled out the other papers and quickly read the top.

_Marriage Contract_

_This contract is between Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson. Both individuals involved are under the age of consent, thus the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) will be signing the end on the aforementioned individuals behalf._

_The terms of this agreement are as follows:_

_a. if both the individuals are unattached and available when they reach they age of twenty-one, they will wed in holy matrimony before the first one reaches the age of twenty-two._

Draco stopped reading there. Before he turned twenty-two? That was only a few months from now. This was ridiculous. Is there not some kind of law against this? His parents signed him up for this against his own free will. He was only one when it had happened and in his entire life, not once had this been mentioned to him. This would have been something he would have remembered.

He sighed and dropped the heavy envelope onto the coffee table, not wanting to think about it at the moment. Right now, he wanted to go and lay with the only girl he would even think about marrying. With that thought, he headed back to the bedroom.

-.-

Hermione stirred and rolled onto her other side to look at Draco. She was a bit surprised when she opened her eyes to find the other side of the bed empty. She got out of the bed and stretched. She then headed into the corridor and stopped at one of the portraits hanging on the wall. It was a photograph of a young woman she'd never seen before holding a small child, looking down on the infant with a sad smile playing at her lips. If you looked closely, you could see a small tear running down the woman's face.

Hermione didn't know what it was about the portrait but it brought a tear to her eye. She looked for an indication of the artist. At the very bottom right corner of the matting you could distinctly make out the name 'B. Zabini'. Hermione was taken aback. Who knew that Zabini had it in him to create such art.

"Do you like it?"

Hermione jumped in shock. She hadn't heard him approaching. Unable to speak, she nodded her head.

"Did you see who it was by?"

Hermione nodded again before continuing aloud, "I never pegged Zabini for an artist."

"No one did really, not even myself, and he's been my best mate for as long as I can remember. He was a stereotypical Slytherin to the bone. Hated muggleborns or anyone beneath his own status. Imagine my surprise when he told me he'd fallen in love."

"Blaise Zabini? Love?" Hermione's eyebrows shot up.

Draco nodded. "Yep. With a muggle, no less."

Hermione's jaw dropped this time. "You're kidding me?"

Draco shook his head no and took a deep breath before continuing once more. "Not at all. I had the opportunity to meet here a year after graduation. She was a real knockout. It was no wonder Blaise fell in love with her. I was in shock when I saw them together. Alissa was six months pregnant and it was incredible to think that it was Blaise's. I was still in shock, he just dropped it on me one day and the next I was headed to Spain to see them."

"She's Spanish?"

"No, actually, she's English but she was working in Spain at an orphanage."

"So, let me get this straight," Hermione said, looking at the picture for a moment before turning her attention back to the silver eyes that were drilling into her amber ones. "Blaise Zabini fell in love with a muggle named Alissa, who worked at a presumably muggle orphanage, got her pregnant and became the father of her child?"

Draco nodded. "They also got married last fall," he added, as if it was an after thought.

Hermione looked back at the image, trying to take it all in. "Well, what does any of that have to do with Zabini becoming artistic?"

"The woman in that portrait is Blaise's wife, holding their child. She was born a stillborn. Nothing could be done to save her, muggle or magic. Alissa had wanted Blaise to take muggle pictures of the birth and afterbirth for her to send to her family members, so he learned to use a muggle camera. When he showed it too me, it brought a tear to my eye. It was the first time Blaise had even seen me cry, so he insisted that I have a copy."

Hermione simply nodded to tell him that she had heard him and smiled sadly at the portrait. She felt for this Alissa. Happy that she had been able to give birth, but yet so heartbroken that she would no longer have this little miracle to tend and love.

Draco watched as silent tears rolled down Hermione's cheeks. He reached out to hold her from behind to comfort her. After a moment he started to lead her away from the portrait and towards the kitchen. He sat her down and got her a glass of juice.

Hermione smiled at him and wiped her cheeks dry. "Sorry."

"Don't be stupid, you don't need to apologize."

Hermione smiled at him and took a sip of her orange juice. Draco watched her and smiled, her honey toned eyes looking into his.

"What?" she questioned.

"Nothing. Do you want something to eat?"

Hermione considered it for a moment. "Are you cooking?"

"If you want."

"Then yes, I'd love something to eat."

-.-

Later that day, they were laying on Draco's bed, naked under the duvet. Breakfast had led to a thank you, which led to a kiss, which led to more kissing, which led to a very long and feverish repeat of the night before.

Hermione was snuggled up against Draco, eyes closed and a small smile playing at her lips. It had been a while since she'd felt this happy. It was then she realized she hadn't heard from any of her other friends yet today. It was already almost six in the evening. She reluctantly rolled out of Draco's lazy grasp around her and reached into her handbag for her mobile.

Looking at the screen, she saw she had six missed calls and four new text messages. Looking at the missed calls list, she noted that they were all Harry. Hermione sighed and looked at her texts.

_Babe, how U feeling this AM? U had loads to drink. Call me l8r. Xx Ana._

'_Mione, hope you're well. Great night! Must do it again soon! Xx Ing_

_Tony and I had a great nite! Let me know how it went with the hottie! Xx_

Hermione replied to the first three messages before opening last one, which was from Harry.

_Where u ? ring me. Need 2 tell u big news! Don't put this off, plzz! Xx_

Hermione didn't know what Harry wanted but she figured it would be best to get it over with now than later.

"I just need to call Harry. I'll try to keep it quick. Would you like anything while I'm up?" she whispered to Draco, leaning in to give him a kiss on the cheek.

Draco shook his head no, "I'm okay, but don't take too long." he winked at her.

Hermione shook her head and smiled as she got up and walked into the corridor. She walked down the long hall towards the kitchen as she dialled Harry's number.

It hadn't even made it through the first ring when Harry answered. "It's about time!"

"Calm down! I don't know what is so important, but I don't have much time," Hermione told him as she poured herself a glass of water.

"I think you're going to want to hear this," he said to her.

Hermione took a sip of her water as she wandered through to the living room and sat on the sofa. "Spit it out then!" she exclaimed, becoming mildly impatient and a tad chilly. She wanted to return to the warmth and safety of Draco's embrace.

"Remember how I told you Pansy Parkinson was going around saying that her and Malfoy were getting married?"

"Yes…"

"Well, it's true. Ginny heard from Parvati, who heard from Padma, who heard from that Daphne Greengrass girl that it was true! Apparently, there is some kind of contract."

"Harry, that's absurd!" Hermione laughed out loud as she leaned forward to examine the contents of the coffee table in front of her. "Draco informed me earlier this week that they weren't getting married! And under a contract - who does that? That is the most ludicrous -" Hermione's voice trailed off as she picked up a thick stack of papers and read the first line.

Hermione's jaw dropped. "No." she breathed.

"Hermione? What's going on? Are you still there?"

"I will call you back." Hermione answered and clicked the phone the end the call.

She continued to read the papers in her hands.

_Marriage Contract_

_This contract is between Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson. Both individuals involved are under the age of consent, thus the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) will be signing the end on the aforementioned individuals behalf._

_The terms of this agreement are as follows:_

_a. if both the individuals are unattached and available when they reach they age of twenty-one, they will wed in holy matrimony before the first one reaches the age of twenty-two._

_b. the couple will reproduce at least two children before the age of twenty-seven. _

_Failure to comply with the above terms will result in the breaking of an Unbreakable Vow. The vow swears that the two will be married before the age of twenty-two._

Hermione was in shock. Why had he been acting like this if he was sworn to marry some other girl. The girl that had been the reason for their first big argument. Hermione placed the papers back on the table after looking through the other pieces of parchment which seemed to be lists of laws and rules from the Ministry.

For the first time in a long time, she didn't know what to do. She took a deep breath to collect herself and stood up. She attempted another deep breath to calm herself but it did not work. In a fury, she grabbed the contract from the table and stormed back to Draco's room.

"Care to explain this?" Hermione yelled as she began to look around the room for her discarded clothes.

Draco was shocked at the sudden outburst and sat up when she threw the papers at him. He looked down at the piece of parchment she'd been speaking of.

"Shit," he muttered to himself. "Hermione, this isn't what you think it is! Please give me a minute to explain."

Hermione had already pulled on her bra, knickers, skirt and was doing the buttons up on her top while looking around for her shoes. "Explain what? That you are BOUND to marry that pug-faced slut? You told me not even four days ago that you weren't getting married! You lied to my face! This is low, Malfoy! Even for you!" Hermione knew that she was acting childish and immature, but she just couldn't stop herself. She was fuming.

Draco was taken aback at the way she'd hissed his name. "No! I didn't even know about this contract until yesterday morning! Honestly, it's never been mentioned to me in my life before then!"

Hermione took another breath and held a steady look at him. "I don't think that I believe that."

"Honestly! If I had known about this, don't you think I'd have gotten out of it by now? I do not want to be marrying Pansy."

"Well, looks like you don't exactly have a choice now, do you?" Hermione grabbed her bag and shoved her cell phone and wand into it. Before Draco could argue anymore, Hermione disapparated.

Draco looked around for a moment. "FUCK!"

-.-

Hermione appeared in the familiar surroundings of Harry's living room. She looked around to the sofa to see him sitting there, as if he was waiting for her.

Harry took one look at her face before saying, "I'll be right back with the bottle."

Hermione smiled and sat down on the couch, waiting for Harry to return. He walked back a moment later with two wine glasses and a bottle of Shiraz.

"Spill," he demanded as he handed her a freshly poured glass.

Hermione took a deep breath and began to explain to him what had happened last night, sparing the intimate details and led all the way up to when she'd appeared in his living room.

"That little conniving, self-absorbed, conceited prat! How dare he? I'm going to go and hex him into next week…" He trailed off when Hermione put her hand on his arm.

"Don't. I shouldn't have let it happen. I just need a good bottle of wine, which we've already started on, and a good night with my best mate. So, tell me, how was your night?"

"Night?" Harry answered. "Great. This morning? Almost as good as yesterdays."

Hermione smiled sympathetically at him. "Well, thank you. I don't know if I said it last night, but it was truly wonderful. You really outdid yourself. I honestly didn't know you had it in you."

Harry feigned a hurt expression, "Moi? Impossible. I pay attention to every little detail."

"By the way, you don't happen to know how many shots I did, do you?"

Harry shook his head, "Nope, sorry mate. I do know that there were four empty bottle this morning at about five."

Hermione groaned. "And, do you happen to know what time I left with Draco?"

Another negative response came over Harry's face. "'Mione, I could barely remember everyone's names and I couldn't read a thing, let alone keep track of what time you left. It was before I did."

Hermione smiled. "Has everyone gone home then?"

Harry nodded before proceeding to inform her that they had been invited for a weekend away at the Burrow for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's anniversary next weekend. Hermione pondered for a moment and realized it had been over four years now since she'd last been to the Burrow. Things had been in such chaos after graduation that she and Harry hadn't gone to visit them in ages. This would also be a good time for them to catch up with other mutual friends.

Hermione agreed to go as she finished her first glass of wine. Harry didn't need any prompting as he picked up the bottle of wine and topped up her glass.

-.-

A/N - well? What did you think? I'm getting e-mails about people putting me on their alert lists, but I'd really appreciate some feedback. So, please review! Thanks! xxxx


	11. Foursome

**-So, it's my day off work and I have shacked up in my friend's bed and told him that I am NOT getting out of bed at all today. And I think it's a good idea. I never take a day just to myself. And one of my indulgences today is writing a new chapter for all of you.. My plan is to write it all this afternoon, edit it and then post it. I'll let you know how it goes at the end of the chapter. Haha.**

**Also, I realized a few days ago that I've made a big mistake. Hermione was born a year before eveyone else in her year, but for the sake of this fic, we're gonna say that she isn't. Hahaha, oki! thanks :) - **

**Chapter 11: Foursome**

Hermione awoke with the sun streaming in the windows, speading a great glow of light all over her bedroom. Any other morning, and she would have been stretching like a cat with a grin on her face, but this morning it was not like that. Instead, she pulled her duvet over her head trying to block out the overly bright sunlight. Her head was pounding, her face was streaked with dried tears and her eyes were red and puffy from a combination of all the crying and lack of sleep.

She had hoped that the copius amounts of wine that she had drank with Harry would help lull her into a deep sleep, but anytime she began to dream she would see Draco's face.

She heard a faint crack from the downstairs living room and knew that someone had just apperated in to see her. Not in the mood for company, she groaned and rolled over, trying to ignore the movement downstairs.

Within a minute, there was a knock on her bedroom door.

"Hermione?" a low voice asked.

Hermione sat up instantly. Of all the voices she expected to hear, that was not one of them. She silently moved the duvet off of her and walked over to the door. She opened it a crack, just enough to confirm her suspicions. The blond haired man that stood on the other side of the door was a mess, but she didn't pay any attention, just looking into his liquid mercury orbs.

"I think I made it clear that I didn't want to see you," she muttered, looking away and starting to shut the door. His hand stopped the door from closing however.

"Hear me out, please?"

Hermione took a deep breath before allowing herself to speak. "Malfoy, there's really nothing to hear out. You are set to be married and to Pansy Parkinson, no less. I think we should both just move on before either one of us gets hurt any more than we already have."

"No, I refuse to let you walk away from me a second time. I've been up all night trying to figure out a way out of this marriage. You know that I don't want to be with Pansy. You've known that since our last year in school. I think I've discovered a way out of it, I just need you to give me one day. Just one day."

"There is no way out of it, it's part of an Unbreakable Vow."

Honey coloured eyes burned into his silver ones as she stared at him, daring him to continue. Everyone in the wizarding world knew that if an Unbreakable Vow was indeed broken, all people involved in the vow died.

"There's a loophole. Please, just one day. Meet me at Ceasar's Palace at seven tomorrow night."

Hermione contemplated. She knew she should be saying no. That this could no way lead to anything good, but before she could refuse his request she was nodding in acceptance.

Draco's shoulders immediately slagged in relaxation. "Great, see you tomorrow. You won't regret it."

He disappeared with a crack leaving Hermione to wonder what that was all about and how the hell she'd gotten herself into this mess all over again.

-.-

Hermione got ready for work after Draco left and she spent the day driving around to various locations that she was doing the sales of. She had text messaged Harry to fill him in on the latest news about Draco and Harry had replied telling her that Pansy had owl'd him and asked to meet with him tomorrow evening as well.

Hermione was beginning to get a bit more than confused. Why would Pansy be asking to meet Harry? There was no reasonable explanation that Hermione could fathom, but she tried to go the rest of the day without thinking about it too much. Ginny and Ron popped over to meet her after she finished work. It felt so good to see them, although she refrained from telling them the whole story about Draco when they asked. She simply stated they were still working on their differences.

She had a few drinks over dinner with her two friends and she remembered how much she really has missed them over the past few years. She felt terrible about leaving England without an explanation to either of them, but she knew that she couldn't do much about it now but apologize.

"Ron, Ginny," she started. "I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have just left like I did after graduation. I just wanted to get away and after Harry and you broke up, Gin, he said that he thought it was time to move on. With Voldemore gone, he just wanted to start a new life, where he could live normally, and I felt like the biggest fool of all time after Draco and I... well, you know. I should've told you I was leaving, and I should've stayed in contact with you, but I didn't want him to know where I was, or that anyone had contact with me."

Ron and Ginny stared at her for a moment.

"We know. It's ok, 'Mione. Harry kept us up to date on how you were doing. When we had enough of second hand updates, we practically forced Harry to arrange that movie night. There was no way we were going to miss your twenty-first birthday." Ron explained to her.

She smiled, thinking how she'd taken their friendships for granted and made a promise to herself that she wouldn't be so selfish anymore and she would work harder on rebuilding her friendships with all of her former school friends.

-.-

Hermione was sitting in her office on Tuesday afternoon, forcing herself to not think about her dinner with Draco that evening when Harry stormed into her office unannounced.

"Where did you say he was taking you, and what time?"

Hermione's head jerked up to look at the bright green eyes staring her down. She was shocked at the emotions that were present in his eyes but she could not place them.

"Ceasar's Palace at seven, why?" she asked warily.

A hand ran through his messy jet black hair as he sighed. "That's where and when Pansy asked me to meet her as well. I really don't know what she's gonna say and a bit confused."

Hermione's browed scruched together in a moment of thoughtfulness. She could not for the life of her make sense of any of this.

-.-

Draco was pacing his living room, waiting for Pansy to arrive. She was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago, but he wasn't surprised. The girl was never on time. One of the many things he couldn't stand about her.

A moment later, a bright green flame lit up the fireplace and Pansy stepped out, brushing a bit of ash off of her sleeve.

"Hi Drake." She smiled.

"Hi Pans." They had a huge long talk the night before. They were up all night and they cleared the air between them. Draco explained to Pansy how he felt about Hermione, and Pansy explained to him that her infatuation with him since they were children had faded lately, and she had hoped that planning a wedding between the two of them would bring them together in the way she thought would bring them eternal happiness.

They had come to the conclusion that this marriage was not what either of them wanted in the end and it was better off if they worked their way out of it. After spending the night in Malfoy Manor's own Library, they had found one way to get out of it, but it was a very very long shot.

"Is he meeting us?"

Pansy nodded. "He's under the impression that he's meeting me, however."

"He'll figure it out. They talk every day, there's no way in hell that he wouldn't put two and two together."

Pansy nodded, but there was a frown on her face.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked the young woman sat on the couch.

"I'm just a bit worried about what my father will say. What will Harry say? Him and I had a one-off. We don't have a full past like you and Hermione do."

"You're father won't be able to do anything if they agree to this. You'll be protected by the ministry, remember? They told us that this morning. Unfortunately, I can't really say how Potter will react. I'll guess we'll find out tonight."

-.-

Hermione opened the door of her house to leave for her dinner date and found a very tall man about to knock on her door. The man was wearing an official Ministry Robe from the UK, and she looked at him confused for a moment.

"Can I help you?" she asked, looking at the man.

"Hermione Granger?"

Hermione nodded.

"My name is Wayne Hopkins, I'm from the Department of Mysteries," he flashed a badge at her for validation, but she didn't look, wondering why that name sounded so familiar. "I wonder if you have a few minutes to answer some questions."

"I'm just on my way out, is there any chance we could do this later?" She didn't know why she was saying that. It was for Harry, she reasoned with herself. If they had been right earlier and Draco and Pansy had set it up for the four of them to eat together for whatever reason, she didn't want to leave Harry on his own.

"It will only take a moment. It's somewhat urgent."

Hermione nodded and moved aside and gestured for the man to come inside. She racked her brains and wondered why the name sounded so familiar. "Can I offer you a drink or anything?"

Hopkins shook his head, "No, thank you ma'am."

His chocolate brown eyes met with her amber honey eyes and she finally realized where she recognized him from. "Wayne Hopkins, Ravenclaw. Right?"

Hopkins eyes widened a moment before he grinned. "I suppose they didn't call you the brightest witch of our age for nothing."

Hermione blushed momentarily. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, I'm here working on an investigation for the Ministry. Do you know anything about the disappearance of six muggles in Bonnyville within the past month?" he asked her, referring to a small town about a half hour drive down the road.

Hermione looked shocked. "No! I wasn't even aware that it was up to six, I heard about the first two, and I felt terrible because I actually knew them from work and sold them their house. I wasn't aware that there was anymore. What happened?"

"As far as the Muggles are concerned, they have died from natural causes. However, it appears that they have been Avada'd. After school you disappeared for some time and we found you again only recently. Your magicial aura has been more prominent than it has been for the past two and a half years."

"Hold on," Hermione snapped. "Are you saying I'm a suspect of these murders? That's ridiculous! Why would I go around killing a bunch of muggles? I work in the muggle world, I've been working for them all for the last two and a half years. This is preposterous."

Hopkins gave her a small smile. "I said the same, but I was sent here all the same. I was hoping we could set up a meeting for you to come in and meet with my boss to give a statement."

"If it means that I will be left alone, you can tell your boss I will drop in tomorrow. Where do I go and who do I meet with."

"Just go to the Department of Mysteries, and you meet with Oliver Wood."

-.-

Draco was sat at the bar with Pansy when he saw Harry walk in. Harry noticed the two of them immediately and walked over to them.

"I didn't realize that it was going to be a foursome," he said as he approached, taking the pint that Pansy had held out for him. "Thanks."

"Well, I wasn't sure if you'd come if you knew I was going to be here. I think it's time we just put our differences aside and try to talk everything through as adults," Draco explained, holding out his hand. He watched as Harry looked at him for a moment, assessing him before shaking his hand.

"Fair enough. So, what is this all about, anyway?"

"I'll wait till Hermione gets here. It's something big we thought it might be best for you to both find out at the same time."

"I think we all already know that Hermione and I won't be in attendance to the wedding." Harry said before he realized what he said.

"A bit counter productive, don't you think?" Pansy scoffed.

Harry didn't say anything for a moment. "Sorry, it's just habit I guess. I'll think before I talk next time."

Nothing was said between the three of them for a moment. "Where's Hermione?" Draco asked, looking at Harry for an answer.

Harry could do nothing but shrug and reply, "I'm not sure. She did promise me earlier she would be here."

"I told you he'd figure it out," Draco smirked at Pansy. Pansy blushed slighty and took a sip from her drink.

Another few moments of silence. "So, Malfoy, been following Quidditch much?"

"No, not really, I've been to a few matches in Edmonton and Calgary, but I haven't been keeping up with it for the past month or so. Being busy with work and what not. Yourself?"

"Yes, I have been. I've taken a liking to the Regina Rifles. They've got a strong offensive and their defense has been improving lately. I've been very impressed with them."

"I'm not familiar with them, I'm sorry to say."

At that moment, Hermione rushed in the door. She spotted the threesome and walked over to them. "So sorry I'm late. I had an unexpected visitor. Have I missed anything?"

"A very riveting few lines exchanged about Quidditch," Pansy informed her, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Ah, so absolutely nothing of interest. Good to know." The others smiled at her as the bartender came over to ask her if she'd like a drink. A moment later the waitress was showing them to their table.

Draco and Pansy sat on one side of the table facing Hermione and Harry. There were a few awkward moments of silence. Hermione took a large gulp from her glass of wine before breaking the silence.

"So, is anyone actually going to tell us what's going on here, because I have been so confused."

Draco nodded and discreetly took his wand out and muttered "muffliato" to ensure complete privacy at the table. He reached into the bag he'd brought with him and placed a manilla envelope on the table.

"We spent the better part of Sunday night and Monday early morning in England talking and doing research. We've come to the conclusion that this is really what neither of us want. This is something being forced upon us and we had no say whatsoever in the matter. So, we looked into how we can get ourselves out of this." He paused for a moment giving to two former Gryffindors a chance to digest what they had just heard.

Their server came over at that moment to take their orders and deliver the bottle of wine that Hermione had requested at the bar. The waiter left and they all looked back at one another.

"Right, so how does this involve us?" Harry asked cautiously.

"Well, we also discovered that our parents don't read the fine print of Ministry laws. We also know that you will both probably be shocked with what we have to ask you at the end of this explanation. So, to start with, the Ministry has a law that if two people are unwilling in a marriage contract that was done without their consent can go through a process to get the contract broken. There are a few rules, however. One of them is that both involved participants must be seeing other people."

"Seeing other people?" Harry asked. "In what sense?"

"Having sex with other people," Pansy answered through gritted teeth.

Harry's brow furrowed for a moment before his face went into a look of shock and enlightenment.

Draco continued, "Another is that the people they are seeing must be willing and will agree to speak in front of a Ministry official to confirm that the individuals involved are in fact seeing other people. We were hoping that both of you would be willing to be those people."

Hermione and Harry looked at each other for a long moment with silent agreement. Hermione knew Harry would help so that her and Draco would be free to be together. She only wondered how he felt about helping the woman he had had a one night stand with.

Hermione looked back at her blonde lover to see if there was anything else they needed to know.

Draco sensed this and continued, "So, we're asking if you two would be willing to speak to a Ministry official so that we can get out of this contract."

Hermione and Harry looked at each other once again, and Harry gave his best friend a quick nod.

"We'll help you. Just let us know where and when."

"I'm glad that you are saying that, but before you completely agree, you must know that not only will be there be us four and a ministry official, but our parents, that is my parents and the Malfoy's must be present as well. That is the only way for the actually Unbreakable Vow to be void. Will you be able to do that? Harry, would you be willing to admit that we are seeing each other in front of my father and same for you Hermione, in regards to Draco's parents?"

Hermione contemplated it for a moment. Was she willing to admit in front of Lucius Malfoy that she was sleeping with his son? He hadn't ever liked her. Between her being a Muggleborn, being best friend of Harry Potter and helping send him to Azkaban in fifth year. On the other hand, she had helped Harry face Voldemort, and if she could do that, she could do anything.

She nodded her consent and turned to Harry who also nodded.

"They don't scare me," was all Harry said.

Draco and Pansy smiled at each other quickly before looking back at their respective lovers.

"I think this calls for some champagne then," Draco stated as he signalled for their waiter.

"Ooooh! Champagne!" Pansy giggled.

-.-

They had each polished off a three course meal and were fairly bubbly off of all the champagne they had consumed. Draco had invited them all back to his place, so they had paid their bill and they were heading out of the restaurant. They walked down the street to a quiet alley and apperated to Draco's house. Draco invited the other three to sit down as he went to the kitchen to get them some glasses and some Firewhiskey. He returned to the living room to find Harry and Pansy cuddled on the love seat while Hermione was sat on the couch playing on her mobile. She looked up and smiled at Draco as he took a seat beside her.

He smiled back and thought to himself how lucky he really was. If anything took her away from him now, he would kill someone or something. He nearly got himself killed when his father walked in on him and Pansy researching how to get out of this contract. Luckily, slow is something that Pansy was not, as she heard Lucius enter the Library, she had jumped on his lap so it looked as if they were in a compromising position.

Lucius had left them without question, and they had immediately gotten back to their research.

And here they were. Hermione and Harry had agreed to tell the Ministry about their relationships. Well, Hermione had agreed to talk about their relationship and Harry had agreed to start a full blown relationship to actually validate what he'd be saying to the ministry when they went. It seemed as if Harry and Pansy were discussing the finer details of their new relationship.

Draco poured some of the amber liquid into all four of the glasses and handed them out before taking a small sip of his own. He could easily get used to this.

-.-

Hermione woke in the morning with a sore head and heavy eyes. She took a moment to take in her surroundings before realizing that she was in Draco's room. She rolled over to see him walking into the room through the door. Noticing she was awake, he smiled.

"Morning," he said as he sat on the bed beside her. "I was just coming to wake you up before I have to leave."

She smiled and sat up, noticing that she was wearing on of his t-shirts. Hmmm... she didn't recall putting that on last night. "Thanks. I need to get up anyways, I have to do some housework today, and then I have to go to the Ministry to speak to Oliver Wood."

A blonde eyebrow arched and Draco's head cocked to the side. "Why are you going there? And to see Oliver Wood no less? Isn't he in charge of Muggle investigations."

Hermione nodded. "Apparently, I've been neglecting my powers until recently, about a month or so ago, and when my aura became strong again, someone else started killing off a bunch of Muggles in Bonnyville. They seem to think it was me. I told them I'd be at the Ministry for just past seven in the morning their time. I'm taking the day off work so I can go and get this whole thing sorted."

"They think that you are killing off a bunch of Muggles? That's preposterous. I should be going to give Wood a piece of my mind. Would you like me to come with you? I'll show him who he is messing with and set him straight. Stupid idiot." he snarled, clenching his fists.

"That's what I said. Well, the preposterous part. And no, you don't need to come, I'll only be there for a little while, then I'll be back. I'm meeting with Harry tonight anyways."

"I thought he was meeting Pansy later?"

Hermione nodded as she got out of the bed to get dressed. "We're meeting before that, he asked if I could meet him and one of his co-workers before he went out with her. I'm meeting him at six, I think he's meeting Pansy at eight."

"Well, if you don't have anything else planned after that, you are more than welcome to come back here. I'll cook some dinner for the both of us, maybe we can watch a film or something?"

Hermione smiled, "Sounds good."

-.-

Hermione made it to the Ministry in London by quarter past seven in the morning and made it to Oliver Wood's office by twenty past. She knocked on the door and was greeted by her former housemate.

"Hello Granger," he greeted, moving back to allow her to come into his office.

Hermione walked in as she nodded in greeting. She meant business. How on earth could she be suspect for killing?

"Wood, just cut the chit chat and let's get down to business shall we? I have a life I'd like to get back to."

The tall Scottish man walked around to the other side of his desk and shuffled some papers as Hermione sat down.

Wood cleared his throat and began "Granger, why did you leave England and move to Canada?"

-.-

An hour later, Hermione left Wood's office after answering what felt like a hundred questions. In all actuality, it was probably about fifty or so, but since she tended to answer every question with a question or retort of her own, it took longer than it probably should have. She really didn't care though. It was ridiculous in the first place that she needed to be here. However, since she was here, she figured she may as well pay a visit to some old friends. She began to walk through the Ministry towards the Minister's office. It had been far too long since she'd seen Kingsley Shacklebolt and she felt it was time she paid him a visit.

She reached his receptionist's desk and noticed Hestia Carrow sitting there. She went up and introduced herself, although Hestia already knew who she was. Hestia excused herself and knocked on the Minister's door.

"Miss Hermione Granger for you, sir."

Although Hermione didn't hear the response, but she was gestured at to enter the room by Hestia a moment later.

Hermione walked into the room and immediately noticed that Kingsley was not alone.

"Oh, pardon me, Minister. I did not mean to intrude."

"Not at all, Miss Granger. Please come in and allow me to introduce you. This is Adrian Pucey, Kaelin Moran, Wayne Hopkins, Malcolm Baddock and Theodore Nott. Everyone, this is Hermione Granger. No fret, Granger, we were just finishing this meeting anyways. Moran, make sure you get your papers to me by the end of the day, if you please. And Nott, tell Chambers I will not be accepting what she put on my desk this morning as a report and she will re-write it." The woman and man he had addressed nodded their head before wishing their farewells and heading out of the office. The rest of the meeting's participants also made their way to the door, only smiling at Hermione apart from Wayne Hopkins.

"Nice to see you again, Miss Granger."

"Likewise," was all she said before Hopkins left the office.

Hermione turned back to the Minister who was just walking over to shake her hand.

"It's nice to see you, Hermione, a visit is long overdue. I'm afraid I've only got a moment, however. I have a meeting with Timothy Parkinson. I'd rather be in your company, believe me, however, duty calls."

Hermione smiled. "It's fine, Minister. I just thought I best come and say hello while I was here. I figured you may not be too impressed if I hadn't."

"Indeed, and where is Harry these days?"

"He's still in Canada. We've both been busy." She shrugged, not wanting to go into detail about her and Harry's newfound relationships with the people that used to be the enemy.

"I see. And the rumours I've heard about you are not at all true are they?"

"The ones about me being a murderer? I should think not."

"Good, because if they were -" he started, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Sir," Hestia popped her head in. "Mr. Parkinson is here to see you now."

Before the minister could respond, a tall, grey haired man walked into the office and began to speak before he was completely in the door.

"Shacklebolt, I demand to know why I have been summoned to a meeting with you and other Ministry officials for a meeting about the marriage between my daughter and young Malfoy."

Hermione's eyes widened as Kingsley smirked and gave Hermione a knowing look. It appeared Kingsley already knew about her and Draco. Oopes.

"Well, Parkinson, you'll have to ask your daughter that. It's her place to tell you. Not mine."

"I would, except she hasn't been home since yesterday morning, and the only reason I know that is because my house elves told me. Damnit, Shacklebolt. I want answers. NOW!"

Hermione took this moment to wave quickly and depart, however, at that moment, Mr. Parkinson noticed her for the first time.

"What are you doing in here you filthy Mudblood. I thought we were rid of you for good."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. She wouldn't allow herself to be intimidated by this man. "Goodbye Minister, it's been lovely catching up with you. If only we had had more time to talk before being so rudely interrupted. Alas, we will see each other at the meeting tomorrow, I'm sure. Draco and I would love to spend time with you afterwards and perhaps grab a cuppa. Au reviour." She waved to Kingsley who was smiling at her. She headed towards the door and stopped just before she exited. She turned around to look at the former Death Eater who had a look of confusion and disgust on his aging face. "Oh, Mr. Parkinson, I suppose I'll be seeing you there as well. Until tomorrow then." She grinned before whirling back around and stalking out the door.

-.-

**Soooo... what did you all think? I'd really appreciate reviews. I know that people are reading because I keep getting notifications that people are adding my story to their alert and fave's list, so some feedback would be really good. anything you may like to see, or even something you may not agree with. Because, well, feedback is good. try to keep it mostly positive though. :) x**


	12. Mistake

**Chapter Twelve: Mistake**

Hermione get back to her living room and realized that she may have made a big mistake. Her Gryffindor pride and bravery got the better of her for a moment. She began immediately to place security hexes and charms on her house and after she finished that she walked outside and got into her car. She hoped for the best that her beautiful mustang would not react too badly to all of the magical energy given off by the wards she'd just put up. She turned the engine on and then hastily put an Unplottable charm on it and backed out of the drive. She needed to warn everyone.

Although she knew it was against the law to text message and drive at the same time, she had no choice. She quickly sent Harry a warning and told him to go to her house. Not to apperate, but to drive and stay inside. She then finished driving her way to Draco's. She ran into the apartment building and began furiously knocking on the door to her lover's flat. She continually knocked until the door opened about two minutes after her arrival.

As the door opened slightly, Hermione pushed her way in and took a deep controlling breath.

Draco immediately noticed the look of panic and fright on Hermione's face as she pushed her way into the corridor that lead into his flat.

"What's wrong?" he asked immediately.

Hermione recounted the events of the Ministry and all about her meeting with Wood, her social call with the Minister and the visit that Pansy's father had interrupted. When she finished she took a deep breath to relax herself but did not realize the look of frustration on Draco's face.

"Why the hell did you do that?" he asked in a raised voice before pulling out his wand and placing security wards on his own flat.

Hermione was confused. She'd come over right away to warn him, and she'd warned Harry. The only person left…

"Pansy!" she said. "I don't know how to warn her, you need to tell her to get over here, now."

Draco looked at her with wide eyes for a moment. He'd never heard Hermione be so concerned for someone who had treated her like utter crap. Instead of asking her about he, he went to his fireplace and grabbed a handful of floo powder.

"Wait here," he instructed the brunette. She nodded as he floo'd himself to Pansy's.

Hermione forced herself to sit down and wait for Draco to return. Luckily, she had not been waiting long when Draco had returned with Pansy not even a minute and a half later.

Pansy shot daggers at Hermione when she noticed she was sitting in Draco's living room. "What were you thinking?" The girl screeched.

Hermione took a deep breath. It had been a long time since she'd done something this rash.

"I wasn't thinking. I got caught up in the moment. I'm sorry, Pansy. I really am. Harry should be waiting for us at mine. We need to get back there. I've charmed my car so that it will protect us. We should go now."

The two former Slytherins nodded. Pansy had brought a bag of stuff with her and Draco quickly went to grab some stuff from his room before motioned that the girls go out. Just as they were opening the door, the familiar whishing sound of the floo flames could be heard from the living room.

"DRACO!"

The trio's faces paled as they recognized Lucius Malfoy's voice coming from his living room. He wasn't sure how to take this.

"I know you're here boy, show your face! Don't be a coward, Malfoy's are not cowards!"

Draco motioned for the girls to continue out the door. "I'll meet you at Hermione's" he whispered, handing his bag to Pansy. He turned back towards his living room, shoulder's back, head high and walked to the living room entrance.

"CRUCIO!"

Hermione and Pansy watched as Draco writhed and screamed in obvious pain. Hermione stood on the spot, and Pansy, who heard Lucius' footsteps coming towards the corridor a moment after he lifted the curse off of Draco, pulled Hermione out the door quickly. She quietly shut the door behind her and forced Hermione around the corner.

"Granger," she hissed. "Get a hold of yourself. You need to remember that Draco is used to his father reacting like this. He'll be absolutely fine. He'll meet us at your place. Let's go."

Hermione nodded quickly and began to head out to her car. Pansy followed her and they go in. Hermione sped the entire way to her house, and the two girls ran inside quickly. Hermione cast a few more protection spells and charms as they shut the door and turned towards the kitchen.

"Harry?" Hermione called out. There was no answer. She picked up her mobile phone and dialled Harry's number. It went straight to voicemail.

"Fuck," Hermione muttered as she tried again. It went to voicemail straight away all five times she called. She then sent a message to all of her Muggle friends asking them to tell Harry to ring her right away if they saw him.

Hermione went to the fridge and pulled a bottle of wine out and poured herself and her guest a glass. She handed the glass of chardonnay to Pansy as her phone began to ring. She quickly grabbed it and looked at the call display.

"Tony! Have you seen him?"

"Yeah," her friend replied. "He said something about going to meet with someone named Ron? I think he was at your party, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, he was," she started. She didn't understand why Harry had met with Ron today. He was supposed to be at work, wasn't he? And they were going to visit the Burrow this weekend, weren't they? "When was that?"

"Hmm…" he friends contemplating voice came through the mobile device. "Probs about a half hour ago. Is everything okay, 'Mione?"

"Yeah, fine. I just really need to talk to him. If you hear from him again, tell him to ring me ASAP, please?" she pleaded.

After having Tony swear down that he would pass on the message, Hermione ended the phone call and looked towards Pansy.

"He went to visit Ron at the Burrow I think."

Pansy scrunched her nose in obvious distaste. Apparently she hadn't changed her views on the Weasley's.

"How do we get a hold of Harry then? He obviously isn't safe there, really is he?"

Hermione nodded in agreement. In order to get there, she'd have to open her Floo line back up, and that meant anyone could get in or out. She knew Pansy could hold her own, but didn't know if she wanted to take that risk. She looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. She began to let it out and looked at her refrigerator, her eyes stopping on a picture of her and Harry after her first day at work at the realtor's. Back when she'd been a mere intern. She smiled and immediately turned to Pansy.

"I'm going to get him. You stay here, but stay in the living room. I'm only lifting the guard on the floo network. I shouldn't be gone long. Keep yourself safe and put people in binds if you don't know them. If you do know them, ask them some questions to make sure they are who they say they are. And for heaven's sake, don't do anything rash."

Pansy shot another set of daggers Hermione's way. "I'm not an imbecile Granger. I know how to take care of myself. Now get your ass in gear and hurry the fuck back."

Hermione didn't need anymore prodding. She whirled around and removed the security on the fireplace quickly. She grabbed a handful of floo powder with one hand, hand her wand at the ready in the other. She nodded a quick goodbye to Pansy and then clearly spoke "The Burrow!" as she dropped the powder. She felt the familiar sensation of moving through the floo system.

She landed on her feet and walked out into the familiar surroundings of the Burrow. She didn't hear anything right away and didn't see anyone as she looked around. She took a look out the living room window and saw Harry laughing in the garden. She immediately began running for the front door and into the garden.

"Harry!" she yelled as she approached him. Harry whipped his dark haired head around.

-.-

Draco was on the floor, attempting from the pain his father had just set on him unexpectedly. He didn't expect the Cruciatus at all for some reason. He supposed he was getting soft after not having pissed his father off in such a long time. Draco opened his eyes as he heard the door quietly shut and his father's footsteps coming across the room to him.

He forced himself not to look at the door after the two girls left, knowing this would set his father off. Instead, he gathered his strength and forced himself to stand up straight, drawing his wand from his pocket as he went. He was standing eye to eye with his father a moment later.

"What are you doing here?" Draco hissed at his father.

"That is no way to speak to me. I thought the answer would be quite clear. Why in the world are you fraternizing with a Mudblood? Why the FUCK are you attempting to get out of this marriage contract? It won't happen."

"Who I do and do not keep company with is not any of your business, father. You lost that privilege when I turned seventeen. I've let you control my life for too long. I'm simply taking a stand, as you did with your father."

Lucius looked stunned for a moment, and Draco knew that he'd caught his father off guard. Apparently, it hadn't occurred to Lucius that Draco knew all about why he and Abraxas, Draco's paternal grandfather, rarely spoke. When they did speak, it was obvious that there was tension between them. One night, when he was a sneaky teenager, Draco has snuck into his father's study and found one of Lucius's old journals. He went on the read the journal about how he'd stood up to Abraxas's constant abuse and bullying. Apparently, however, Lucius didn't remember how badly his father had treated him, or if he did, he truly was a heartless bastard for doing the same to his own flesh and blood. Why he would do that, Draco did not know, but he had a feeling that he would find out shortly.

Lucius's eyes had narrowed. "What are you speaking about?"

"I'm speaking, father, about when you told your father what I'm about to say to you. Sod off, stay away from me and away from those that I choose to keep in my company. As of the fifth of June, nineteen ninety seven, you lost all rights and privleges, legally speaking, that is, to tell me what to do. You may leave now. Or are you going to make me force you?"

Draco's heart was pounding so hard that he was sure Lucius could hear it. He was more than well aware of the line of sweat forming on his upper lip. He'd finally done it. He'd stood up to his father. He'd finally told him to sod off. He couldn't believe it. He'd been dreaming of this day since the day he came home from his first year of Hogwarts and his father had begun to drill him about keeping his blood pure. He'd been too young to understand or say anything consciously then, but as time went on he began to resent his father more and more. And now, here he was.

He took a deep breath as he waited for his father's reply. Lucius's eyes had widened during the confrontation, but they were shooting daggers at him again.

"Have I taught you absolutely nothing then? No manners, no respect for elders, for those who did anything for you. Nothing at all?"

"Please father, you are such a drama queen. Yes, of course you taught me stuff, but I believe it's time that you step back at let me live how I wish, and not following your every whim and plea."

Before Draco knew what he was saying, the words were out of his mouth and he couldn't stop them. There was a long silence while the two men simply just stood and watched each other. Draco figured it was a good two minutes before Lucius reacted.

"Well then," he started. "If that's how you really feel, then you no longer need to be a part of this family."

Draco took a deep breathe to counter his father, but Lucius stopped him.

"No, don't speak. I wish to finish. You are obviously not happy with the way that your mother and I have raised you and you do not wish to be a part of it anymore. I will not in any way assist you tomorrow at this meeting at the Ministry. I will show up out of courtesy to the Parkinson's, but I will remain silent unless absolutely necessary. Don't expect anything from us anymore. Including your inheritance."

Draco watched as his father turned on his heel and stalked back to the fireplace. He continued to watch until Lucius had stepped into the fireplace and yelled out 'Diagon Alley' whilst dropping the powder he'd collected a moment prior. Draco stood a moment after his father left taking in what had happened in the past ten minutes. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but he did now that he just got fucking lucky.

-.-

"Hermione?" Harry asked in a confused voice.

Hermione stopped a few feet from him and noticed that Ginny, Ron, George and Mrs. Weasley were all outside as well.

"Uhm, Harry, you need to come with me. Like, right now. I've been trying to ring you."

"What's going on?" Ron asked, looking back and forth between Harry and Hermione.

Hermione didn't want to be the one to tell Ron and Harry and her had made a deal with Draco and Parkinson, so she thought carefully about her wording.

"It's urgent that we talk about the meeting we have tomorrow. It would be _danger_ous to wait," she emphasized the first half of the word hoping that Harry would get the hint.

He did. He nodded and turned back to the Weasley's. "We'll see you this weekend, but Hermione's right, we should have done it this morning and gotten it over with." Harry waved quickly and began to walk inside, grabbing Hermione by the arm on his way.

"See you this weekend!" Hermione called over her shoulder.

Once inside, Harry walked to the fireplace. "You saved me, thank you. I was going to tell them about Pansy, but I obviously it's not the right time. Where we going?"

"My house. Pansy should be in the living room. Beware though. I'll fill you in there, but get your wand ready, just in case."

-.-

When Lucius left, Draco didn't waste any time. He tried to decide the best way to get to Hermione's. He doubt that it would work, but he decided to try the floo first. To his surprise, it worked.

He stepped out into Hermione's living room to find Pansy's wand pointed at him.

"Pans, calm down. It's just me."

"How do I know you are who you claim you are?" Pansy countered him.

"Touche. What do you want to know?"

Pansy pondered for a moment. "Where is my birthmark?"

Draco gave her a quizzical look. "How should I know?"

"Well, I told the real Draco in third year. So, let's hear it. If not I'll be forced to tie you up."

"Pansy, really? Third year? Isn't there something that I'm actually likely to know? Or remember?"

Pansy huffed in annoyance as she thought of another question.

"Who did you catch me making out with at graduation?"

"Blaise Zabini."

"No, that was the night we went out after graduation. I'm taking about during the ceremony."

Draco threw up his hands in frustration. "God dammit, Pansy. It's me for fucks sakes. Draco Lucius Malfoy. Slytherin, class of ninety eight. Defected pure-blood. Who the hell else would it be?"

Pansy shrugged, still not lowering her wand. "Anyone. I'll guess we'll just wait till the lady of the house returns."

"What? Where is she?"

"England. I think that she mentioned Harry was at the Weasel's."

"WHAT?" He yelled. "What the hell is she doing there?"

Before Pansy could reply, the fireplace lit itself with green flames. A moment later, Hermione stepped out. Before anyone could say anything, the fire lit itself again and Harry stepped out.

"Oh thank goodness, Draco, you made it back!" Hermione wrapped her arms around her lover's neck and embraced him for a moment.

Harry went to Pansy and gave her a quick awkward smile. Hermione pulled back from Draco and muttered the spell to block the floo network once more.

"Anyone mind filling me in here?" Harry asked.

"It's Granger's fault!" Pansy accused.

"Pansy!" Draco scolded his friend. "It was a mistake, calm down."

Hermione shook her head. "No, Pansy's right. I let myself act before I thought it through, something I rarely do. It's just pants that it had to be in this particular situation."

"No shit, you idiot. My father would have had my head if Draco hadn't come and gotten me when he did. I heard him banging on the door when I left."

"Pansy, I'm sorry. What more can I really say?"

"Will someone please tell me what the FUCK is going on?" Harry asked in a raised voice.

Hermione took a deep breath and quickly recounted the events at the Ministry. When she finished no one said anything for a moment.

"Wait," Harry began. He thought for a moment before continuing, "why the hell were you going to give a statement to Wood? Isn't he the Head of one of the Investigations in the Department of Mysteries?"

Hermione nodded, "Wayne Hopkins, one of his employees, came to see me last night before our dinner. That's why I was late. Apparently, I'm under investigation for the murder of six muggles."

"WHAT?" Draco and Harry yelled in rage at the same time.

Hermione didn't know what to say so she stayed silent. Pansy was the first to speak after a long minute. "Wow. Never thought of Gryffindors Golden Girl as a murderer."

Hermione shot daggers Pansy's way. Draco also shot Pansy a look of revolt. "Pansy, shut up. That's not appropriate. Besides, you should be grovelling to Hermione. She could have left you to get beheaded, and then we wouldn't have to go through with the messy meeting coming our way tomorrow."

Pansy's eyes went wide for a moment before she hastily muttered an apology. Hermione nodded in acceptance.

Harry went into the kitchen and returned a moment later with the wine bottle Hermione had opened earlier and two beers for him and Draco.

They all sat down in silence for a long time. Hermione reckoned it was about fifteen minutes before the silence was interrupted by a knock on her door.

Hermione slowly got up and went to the front door. Draco was at her heels as she peeked out the peephole in her door. She immediately recognized Wayne Hopkins and opened the door a crack.

"Hello." Hermione greeted.

"Hello Ms. Granger. Can you step out her for a moment please?"

Hermione nodded and opened the door fully and took a step out.

Hopkins cleared his throat. "Hermione Jean Granger, you are under arrest for the assassination of six muggles in the Bonnyville area. Anything that you say can and will be used against you in the Wizengamot."

-.-

**I know it's a bit shorter than normal. I'm sorry. I am going on vacation Tuesday and wanted to get a chapter up before I leave. I don't know if I will have time to update before I leave.**

**There are loads of people that have this story on alert, and I'd reallllyyy appreciate it if you would review and give me your honest thoughts. I'd like to hear them, and it'll give me something to motivate me to write while I'm on vacation! Haha. Hope you enjoyed it. ****J**

**xxxxxxx**


	13. Friends

**Please read authors note at the end. And please review! Enjoy **

**Chapter Thirteen: Friends**

Hermione sat in a cell that Wayne Hopkins had escorted her to and was attempting to make sense of this whole mess. In the past two weeks, she'd reconnected with the one person she honestly believed could be the love of her life (although she'd never admit that to him!), her best friend had begun hooking up with her love's ex-girlfriend/current fiancée, she had a great week at work this week, earning herself a small fortune by selling one of the town's biggest houses, she also reconnected with all her old school friends and she's under investigation for the murder of six muggles.

"Talk about icing on the cake," Hermione muttered to herself.

She was not sure how long she'd been sitting in the cell for but it felt like hours. She hadn't heard from Draco or Harry and that was beginning to worry her. Surely they would be trying to help her out of this place, right? They wouldn't let her rot in here.

_Looks like it's going to be a long night,_ she thought to herself. The dark dingy cell felt more like a dungeon rather than a simple holding cell. There was muck on the walls apart from the one spot that Hopkins had Scrougify'd for her to sit against. There was a leak on the other side of the cell and it smelled of vomit and rotting carcasses.

_God, hurry up boys!_

-.-

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S BEEN ARRESTED?" Ron yelled after Harry had explained to him what had happened a mere ten minutes prior.

Harry had acted immediately after Hermione had been taken away by the Ministry official. He opened her Floo network once more and he'd taken Draco and Pansy to The Burrow with him. He'd gathered the Weasley family as quick as possible and a minute later Ron, Ginny, George, Fred, Arthur and Molly all sat in the kitchen with the odd trio, listening to what Harry had to say.

Ron eyed up the two Slytherins that were standing behind Harry with distaste.

"Ron, it's not their fault, calm down. But, yes, she's been arrested. Apparently our dear friend is being accused of murder," he explained calmly, although he was fuming on the inside. Anyone that knows Hermione knows that she is anything but a murderer.

"Actually, I decided to come here because I was hoping that you would come help us try to get her out, Mr. Weasley," Harry continued. "I know it's not your regular department, but I figured that it would help to have someone that actually works at the Ministry to get her out."

Arthur nodded. "I'll just grab my robes from the bedroom. Won't be a moment, Harry." He stood and began to walk up the stairs as Ron had another go.

"I'm coming with you, there's no way that I'm going to let them get away with this!" Ron exclaimed, jumping up from his seat and pounding his fists on the table.

"Ronald Weasley, you sit back down this moment. You will not be going to the ministry. Your temper needs to be checked before I will even think about allowing you to leave with them."

"MUM!" Ron countered. "They think Hermione is murdering Muggles. They can't be allowed to get away with this!"

"Watch your cheek, young man. I'm still your mother and while you are living here, you will respect me. Now, sit down."

Ron stared at Mrs. Weasley for a moment before reluctantly sitting down in a huff, arms crossed over his broad chest.

Mr. Weasley appeared then and motioned the trio towards the fireplace. Harry motioned for Mr. Weasley, Draco and Pansy to go first. One at a time, they Floo'd to the ministry. Harry was about to leave but Ron stopped him.

"Harry," he said with his face still red with anger. "Give 'em hell."

Harry chuckled and nodded.

-.-

Draco stepped out of the fireplace and stood by his distant cousin's husband. He felt a twinge of guilt for making fun of this nice family when he was younger. He was raised to believe they were blood traitors by his father. Not that any of that mattered anymore anyways, but he felt he should apologize for his insensitivity and completely inappropriate remarks. Before he could start however, Pansy stepped out of the fireplace. She went to stand by Draco and the three of them stood in silence waiting for Harry.

Harry appeared a few moments later and stepped out. "Where should we start?" he asked Mr. Weasley.

"Straight to the top. Do you know who is in charge of the investigation?"

"Wood," Draco replied instantly, hissing the name of the former Gryffindor.

"To see Wood then," the older wizard replied and headed off towards the lifts.

They made their way to Oliver Wood's office and Harry knocked. After being invited inside, Harry pushed the door open and walked into the office.

"Potter," Wood greeting him. "Nice to see you. What can I do for ya?"

"You can tell me why my best friend is under arrest for the murder of six muggles to start with, Wood. Come on! Hermione? A murderer? You know better than that," Harry scoffed, getting straight to the point. He wasn't particularly in the mood to beat around the bush, so to speak.

Wood looked taken aback for a moment before looking over Harry's shoulder towards Draco, Pansy and Mr. Weasley.

"What are you on about, Potter?"

"Your little minion arrested Hermione less than a half hour ago! What the hell for? She's innocent and you know it as well as I do!" Draco said in a firm and irritated voice.

"No, I really don't. I didn't sign any warrant for her arrest, and I definitely don't believe Hermione is the murderer that we've got over there in Canada."

"Well you must have signed something, because Hopkins arrested her!"

Wood had a confused look on his face, "Now I _really_ don't know what you're on about. Hopkins is off on stress leave until Monday. Started today, ends next Monday." the Scottish man explained.

The foursome that had come to free Hermione looked from one another in confusion. It was clear to them that Wood genuinely did not know what they were talking about. But, if Wood didn't warrant Hermione's arrest, then who did?

-.-

Hermione woke up some time later, shivering and feeling extremely dirty. She didn't know how long she'd been asleep for, nor did she remember actually drifting off to sleep. She squinted until her eyes adjusted to the dim light and realized that she'd been moved.

_What the hell?_ she thought to herself, looking for something familiar.

She was sat on a small cot in a room slightly bigger than the cell that she'd been put into earlier. She racked her brain for a moment but had no recollection of being moved into this room. She listened for a moment to see if she could hear anything.

As if on cue, the door to the room opened and a man hardly older than herself stepped in.

"Good, you're awake. Here's your food," he grunted as he handed over a small tray that had a bowl of soup and a roll on it.

Hermione looked at the man skeptically. "Who are you?" she asked.

"As if I'm going to tell you. Take the food now or you won't have anything until tomorrow. If you make it that long, that is," the man threatened.

Hermione narrowed her eyes. There was no way she was going to let this man intimidate her. She put her hands on her hips.

"Where am I?"

"The likelihood of me revealing that is about as good as the chances of you finding out my name in the next couple of days. I've been assigned to babysit you and I've been given strict orders to keep you in somewhat good health. Now, eat!" he growled once more thrusting the tray at her.

"How do I know it's not poisoned?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Did you not just hear me? Are you as deaf as you are daft?"

Hermione huffed as the man exited the room. She looked down at the soup determined not to give in to the stranger. It did smell lovely however, and her stomach rumbled at that moment.

With a sigh of defeat, Hermione tucked into the soup. It wasn't long until she finished the soup and began to look around, not that there was much to look at. There was nothing in the room apart from the cot and a small table by the door. She set the tray that the food had been given to her on and laid down on the bed. Unfortunately, without her wand, she knew that the only thing she could do now was wait. She also knew that she was NOT in the Ministry holding cells.

-.-

"We need to find her!"

That was the twentieth time that Draco had said that to Harry in the past twenty five minutes, and frankly, it was getting on Harry's nerves.

"MALFOY! I KNOW! I'm thinking. Give me time."

Harry was pacing back and forth in the sitting room of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. After they left the Ministry, Harry had lead Draco, Pansy and Mr. Weasley to the former headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. He had Kreacher make them some tea, but it sat mainly untouched as the three gentlemen opted for something a bit stronger and Pansy had simply requested a glass of water.

"We need to find Hopkins," Harry muttered to himself.

"We need to find Hermione," Draco said in return.

"I know, Malfoy. But in order to find her, we need to know where she was taken, and all we know is that Hopkins arrested her without a warrant. We find Hopkins, we take him to Kingsley and get him to perform Legilimency on him and we find out what's going on."

"What if he's an Occlumens?" Draco countered.

"He's not registered," Mr. Weasley piped up.

"I didn't realize you needed to be registered if you are an Occlumens," Harry frowned.

"Well, no, not normally. But if you work for the Ministry, you are required to divulge such information."

The two younger men nodded.

"Should we tell Ron?" Harry asked his senior.

After a moment of contemplating the redheaded man nodded.

Harry took a deep breath, drank his drink in one gulp and closed his eyes and his throat burned from the strong taste of the alcohol.

"Here's what I'm proposing," Harry began. "We pop to the Burrow. Check the clock about Hermione's whereabouts and tell Ron while we're there. No doubt he'll insist on coming with us, and I think he should. He'll be calmed down by now, I'm sure, thanks to Mrs. Weasley. Then we get to the Ministry again and get some contact information for Hopkins. Go and question him if we can find him. If not, well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, as the Muggles say."

He looked to Draco and Mr. Weasley to see what their thoughts were on the matter. They all nodded in agreement and looked towards Pansy.

"Well, don't look at me. I'm following you guys. There's no way I'm going to let you leave me all on my own!"

All at once they apparated to The Burrow.

-.-

Ron was sat at the kitchen table when he heard the air displacement that came along with apparation.

He stood up to go and give Hermione a huge hug and rant about how ridiculous the Ministry is. He was taken aback when he saw his father, Harry, Draco and Pansy without Hermione.

"Ron, sit down," Mr. Weasley instructed before his son could say anything.

Ron sat on the closest chair available with a look of confusion and stress on his face.

"What's going on? Where's Hermione?" he demanded.

Harry took a deep breath before telling Ron what had happened in Wood's office.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" he yelled, standing up.

"Ronald, language!" Mrs. Weasley scolded as she entered the living room. "What is going on in here to draw such a nasty word from your mouth?"

"Hermione's been kidnapped, Mum," Ron spat.

The look that crossed over Mrs. Weasley's face was one of confusion, so Harry once again quickly explained what happened while turning to look at the clock that was behind him. Hermione's picture was pointed at the words "Safe with Friends".

Draco had also turned to look at the clock when he noticed Harry's face draw into confusion. Draco's jaw dropped slightly.

"I think the clock may be broken," Mr. Weasley piped up. "Perhaps I should take some time this afternoon to tinker around with it, Molly."

"Over my dead body. This clock is perfectly fine. Everyone else is where they are meant to be. Perhaps this has all been a misunderstanding," Molly suggested.

"But why would someone arrest her under false pretenses of murder if they were her friends?" Ron countered.

"Things don't always make sense at first, Ron."

"Mum," Ron groaned. "She's missing. No one knows where she is and she's just gone face to face with Parkinson!"

Pansy cleared her throat to inform Ron that she was still there.

"What?" Ron snapped at her.

Pansy shot him a dirty look. "Weasel, _I_ am a Parkinson. I would appreciate a little bit of recognition that _I_ am _not_ my father."

Ron grunted and nodded but did not reply any further than that.

"Right, we need to put our heads together. Draco and Pansy, you know all the ins and outs of the pureblood connections, we'll need some information on that. Is Ginny here? She's always been about as good as Hermione at taking notes. She can take some notes for us to look back on in a bit. Ron and I will listen to what Draco and Pansy have to say and pray to Merlin that some of Hermione's logical thinking had worn off on us at some point. Alright?" Harry looked around as he finished, although he knew there were no disagreements with what he had just said. Everyone merely nodded and Ron went upstairs to get Ginny.

"I'll be in the garage taking a look at this clock," Mr. Weasley informed them as he took his wand out.

"Over my dead body, I said Arthur," Mrs. Weasley shot her husband a look. He immediately backed down as she continued, "I'll be in the kitchen making you all some snacks. Any requests?"

They all politely declined and sat down as Ron reappeared with Ginny.

"Right, let's go," Ron said as he rubbed his hands together and sat down.

-.-

Hermione had counted all the cracks in the walls, the age lines in the wood of the table in the room and had started re-telling herself _Hogwarts, A History_ from the beginning. She had gotten to what she knew from memory was page one hundred twenty seven when the door to the small room opened again.

Hermione watched as the same man as before walked in. His dark hair was quite contrasting to his ivory skin. He had eyes that were a navy blue colour with dark thick lashes. Perhaps if he wasn't holding Hermione against her will, she would have found him attractive. As it is, he was holding her and she was determined to find out what was going on.

"Up," was all he said as he stepped into the room.

"Excuse me? That's no way to talk to a lady."

"You really are fucking deaf aren't you? I said up," he hissed at her.

Hermione stood and crossed her arms. She watched as the stranger turned and began to walk out of the room. He left the door open and a moment later he turned back to raise an eyebrow at her. Hermione took this as a cue to follow and scurried after him. Hermione didn't know where he was leading her, but it was strange that she didn't feel particularly frightened.

As they climbed up a set of stairs, the entire place changed. Instead of being in a dungy basement, Hermione was lead through a beautifully decorated and sunlight room. She looked out the panoramic window on the opposite side of what appeared to be a sitting room and saw a cerulean blue body of water with a white sandy beach.

She stopped in her tracks, forgetting herself for a moment when she saw dolphins jumping and playing in the distance.

"Come on. We aren't here to dwaddle," the man in front of her moaned.

"Well, are you going to tell me what we are doing?"

"Merlin, why did he send me to get you anyways? You're nothing but a cheeky pain in the ass!"

"Who sent you?" Hermione demanded narrowing her eyes.

"That would be me, Granger. Nice to see you again."

-.-

They had been sitting around for hours listening to Draco and Pansy describe different details of the pureblood inter circle. The sun had gone down and had begun to rise again. There had been lots of coffee and energy drinks handed out and Mrs. Weasley had made a bunch of food for them to eat before she'd retired to bed a few hours ago.

"I really had no idea that it was like that. I'm kinda glad that your lot labeled us as blood traitors," Ginny had remarked earlier as she continued to take notes.

No one had said anything in response to that and simply continued to listen to what the other two had to say. It was about four hours later and they still hadn't gotten anywhere.

"The only thing that would even remotely make sense is that Hermione was taken because of the relationship she's having with Draco right now," Harry mused.

"It's a possibility. But since the war finished, most purebloods aren't as picky about blood status. My father, Pansy's father and Nott Senior as well as a few other death eaters are the only ones I know of. And most of them are abroad in pureblood villages and such, so they don't really care what's going on here. My father said that if this is what I want, he'll leave me too it basically and I need not bother with them anymore. He's an asshole, sure, but he's long past his days of kidnapping and torturing. And Pansy's father…" Draco trailed off.

"My father is a possibility," Pansy nodded slowly. "I wish he wasn't but it is. I just don't know how to find out for sure. He could have tried to do something to get her so that tomorrow at the meeting she isn't able to confess, thus we have to go through with the wedding."

"Well that gives him a motive, now we just need sufficient evidence to make a claim," Harry stated. Every stared at him wide eyed for a moment. "Sorry, too much Law and Order on the telly," He muttered.

Everyone chuckled lightly before returning to the task at hand. They all took turns spitting out ideas and other possibilities other than Pansy's father. Ginny wanted to make sure they covered all of the bases. They had been bantering for about another three quarters of an hour before Draco's jaw dropped and he had an almost excited look on his face.

"Pansy! Taffy!" He said in a strange tone.

"Now's hardly the time to be thinking about sweets," Ginny rolled her eyes at the blonde guy.

"Oh my god, I can't believe we didn't think about that earlier!" Pansy grinned.

"Guys, honestly, I'm hungry too, but taffy isn't exactly something to eat while you're working,"

"Nooo," Pansy giggled. "Not taffy the candy. Taffy, my house elf. She'll have known if anything weird happened at the house. She would have been in charge of any extra food being made, any wands that have been removed are hidden by her and I am her master."

Everyone grinned as Pansy called for her house elf. A moment later a small elf appeared and bowed deep towards Pansy.

"Mistress Pansy, Taffy is so pleased to see that you are alright. Taffy has been terribly worried about Mistress Pansy."

"Thank you Taffy. I'm fine."

Taffy the Elf stood again before bowing towards Draco. "Taffy is also pleased to see that Mister Draco is well, likewise. Taffy heard about what had happened at the Ministry with Mister Draco's love. It's almost like a fairy tale. Although Taffy did not like to hear Master Timothy yelling to Mister Lucius about it all."

"What were they yelling about, Taffy?" Draco asked immediately.

"Ooh, Taffy does not think she is supposed to tell, sir."

"Taffy," Pansy smiled at the elf. "Please answer any of the questions that you are asked until I dismiss you later."

Taffy nodded and turned back to Draco. "Master Timothy was yelling at Mister Lucius about how it was his fault that he let Mister Draco run around with a dirty blooded witch. Mister Timothy also said that if Mister Lucius had remained loyal the entire time of the final battle then Mistress Pansy and Mister Draco would have been married almost immediately. Taffy did not hear anything else from that argument because Taffy had to go and help Mistress Rose."

"Taffy," Harry started. "Has there been anyone brought into your house since yesterday morning? Anyone you've never seen before?"

Taffy thought for a quick moment before shaking her head. "No, sir, none at all. Only Mister Lucius was visiting yesterday."

Everyone stopped for a moment. That hit them back a few steps.

"Has there been any talk from my father about bringing someone new in? Or perhaps taking them somewhere else. Somewhere that is untraceable."

Taffy thought again before slowly nodding. "Master Timothy was speaking with Mistress Rose earlier. He said that he would have her head for talking such cheek to him. Taffy does not know of whom Master Timothy speaks though. Taffy never heard a name. Just that Master Timothy was not happy at all that Mister Draco had become a blood traitor. And that Mistress Pansy had changed sides along with him."

No one spoke. He had threated to have Hermione's head. They all just looked at one another before Pansy spoke to her elf.

"Taffy, I want you to go back to the house. Do not tell anyone that you have been here. Do not tell them that you saw any of us. Listen for anything else that may help us find a friend. If you hear anything, remember it and come to see me as soon as you can get away without anyone noticing. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mistress. Taffy understands and Taffy will obey. Anything for Mistress Pansy."

Pansy nodded and dismissed her elf before looking to Ginny. "Write this down," she ordered. "Alston, Augher, Ballycastle, Barton, Bedale, Bleary, Burntisland, Col Uarach, Corby, Culloden Moor, Downpatrick, Dunbar, Hastings, Haverfordwest, Kelso, Knaresborough, Lilburn, Neath, Renfrew, Rugby, Saltcoats, Swordale, Tiverton, Weymouth and Wick."

"What's all that?" Harry inquired when she finished.

"Former death eater camps," Draco stated in a flat tone.

"All of them?" Ron asked in astonishment.

"All the ones that were active during the last wa

Ginny finished her scribbling and smirked a little bit. "All alphabetized as well."

Pansy simply nodded.

"It'll take us forever to get through all of those!" Ron moaned as he looked over his sister's shoulder at the list she'd just made.

"The good news is that each camp had its own purpose. Knowing Mr. Parkinson, he'll use the camps that would be appropriate for such a situation." Draco sighed. "The bad news is that most of them were used to torture and kill non-purebloods. Luckily, some of those were specifically used for blood traitors and half-bloods."

"Yeah, luckily," Ron scoffed.

"Look, Weasley. At least I have some useful information if this is what happened, so don't be mocking me. I never said I approved, okay?" Draco shot Ron a look that said '_shut up now or I'll take you to the appropriate camp and put it to use._'

Ron sat back in his seat as Harry looked at the list.

"Right, well, let's get a list organized and figure out what's going on."

-.-

Hermione thought that the lack of sleep was catching up with her. She didn't know how long she'd been awake, how long she'd slept for earlier or even what time of day it was. It was presumably midafternoon considering the amount of sunlight that was going on outside.

Hermione blinked and rubbed her eyes before opening them and looking at the man who had just spoken to her. The tan colour in his skin was darker than she remembered and she was shocked to be looking into eyes that were the same colour as her own dark cinnamon ones.

"Zabini?"

"Aye, welcome to my humble abode." He strode over to her and held his hand out for her to shake. She took it warily while still eyeing up Draco's friend. "And please, call me Blaise."

Hermione wasn't sure what to say so instead she nodded to show she understood and stood awkwardly for a moment.

"Can I get you a drink?" Blaise asked her as he walked to a bar on the right side of the room.

Hermione shook her head, still unsure what to say.

"Honestly, Hermione. May I call you Hermione? I'm not going to hurt you. Don't you think we are long past that?"

Hermione shrugged as she forced her feet to walk over to the bar that Blaise was standing at.

"That cat of yours got your tongue?"

Hermione racked her brains trying to put together an intelligent sentence. "I…You…What in Merlin's balls am I doing here?"

Blaise chuckled as he handed her a tumbler with a whiskey in it and sat at one of the stools. He motioned for Hermione sit on the other stool. She sat and took her drink down in one gulp.

She looked back at Blaise and raised an eyebrow. "Do you mind telling me what's going on now? I've had enough shit lately."

"Now, now. That's no way to talk to someone who's just saved your life."

"You kidnapped me! I was under the impression that I was under arrest! FOR MURDER!"

Blaise winced as her voice raised, "Hermione, please keep your voice down. Alissa has just put the baby down. She's been rather fussy this morning."

Hermione's eyes widened a moment. "Sorry, but I really don't like not knowing what's happening."

"Apparently, yes. Well, let's start from the beginning shall we? Is it not correct that you gave Timothy Parkinson a bit of cheek in the Minister's office yesterday morning?"

Hermione nodded slowly, wondering how Blaise knew that.

"Well, he wasn't too impressed and he reacted quite harsh. There's a price on your head."

"Well, yes, I know that. Or rather, I suspected something like that would happen. We had put wards up on my house and stuff."

"You allowed yourself to be arrested," Blaise said. "You shouldn't have answered the door,"

"Well, I wasn't just going to ignore a Ministry official knocking on my door. I'm not a criminal, I had nothing to hide."

"Except that you killed six muggles," the Italian countered.

"I didn't do that!"

"I know, but you allowed yourself to be arrested for it, which means you may as well have admitted too it. But, enough of that for now. You need to get ready for your meeting at the Ministry. You need to be there in an hour and a half. I've sent along word to Draco, Pansy and Potter to meet me there. Although, they have no clue that you are with me. Perhaps I should have mentioned that. Draco will probably want to kill me."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Well, may I have my wand back then, please?"

"Well, if I had it, I would return it to you. But, I don't have it. Hopkins had it and I'm not sure where he took it."

"What do you MEAN? What exactly happened?"

"I'll explain after you've cleaned up. I'll show you to the bathroom and I've gotten Alissa to lend you some clothes to wear to the Ministry. We'll bring everyone back here with us. Shall we?" He motioned towards the grand staircase leading up. Hermione followed him up the staircase, trying to recall any events she could remember from the last twenty four hours.

-.-

**Well, what did you all think? A huge thanks to whitneydawnj who beta'd this chapter! Would've had a million and one little mistakes that I would have missed without her!**

**Again, please review, I love to get feedback.**


	14. Happiness

**Well, this is the last chapter folks! I hope it ties everything up and I hope you enjoy it. Please review!**

**-.-**

Hermione emerged from the washroom about twenty five minutes later feeling way better than she had before she'd showered. She dressed herself in the trousers and top that Blaise's wife had left out for her. She was surprised to see that they were about the same size so the clothes fit nicely. She made her way down the corridor that Blaise had instructed her to before leaving her to freshen up.

She entered the room at the end of the corridor and found Blaise and a tall blonde, presumably his wife, sitting on the terrace outside sipping from some cups. She made her way onto the terrace and cleared her throat to announce her arrival.

The couple turned around and smiled at her. Blaise stood up and the woman followed suit.

"Ah, wonderful. Hermione Granger, allow me to introduce you to my wife, Alissa Zabini. Darling, this is the girl I told you about, Hermione Granger."

Hermione smiled at the tall blonde and took in her appearance. Alissa had sky blue eyes, her blonde hair fell in waves past her shoulders and she had a good four inches on Hermione's five foot four build.

"It's so nice to meet you, finally!" Alissa gushed. "I've heard so much about you from Blaise. He tells me that you are the brightest witch of your age! Although I don't know firsthand, I'm sure that's quite the acknowledgement."

Hermione's cheek tinged a faint pink as she smiled. "Thank you. It's a pleasure to meet you. Although," she turned to look to Blaise, "I really wish I had an explanation as to why I am here in the first place."

Blaise chuckled and turned to Alissa, "I need to go with Hermione to the Ministry. I'll be back later, shouldn't be more than three hours. We just need to get this whole mess sorted," he assured his wife. He then gave her a small peck before turning back to Hermione. "Let's go, shall we? I'll explain on the way downstairs and once we get to the Ministry."

Hermione nodded and waved a small goodbye to Alissa.

"Goodbye, Hermione. I'll see you when you get back," Alissa smiled.

After they'd gotten back into the corridor out of earshot Hermione stopped Blaise. "Just start. Honestly, the curiosity is killing me."

Blaise sighed before continuing. "Look, Theodore Nott tipped me off, but he knew that he couldn't help because of the position he is in with his father. Nott Senior and Parkinson were in on it together. They're pretty much inseparable now that the war is over." Blaise continued to walk as he told Hermione the tale. "Theo overheard his father and Parkinson talking yesterday about what happened at the Ministry. Parkinson was furious and they decided to get back at you, or try too anyways. They got wind that you were under investigation from the Ministry for murder and they hired Hopkins to arrest you under that pretence.

"As I understood it, Hopkins was to take you to one of the former Death Eater camps, near Bedale in Yorkshire. However, I sent my body guard to Confund Hopkins and he brought you here after dropping you off in Bedale. I think you were there for about a total of an hour. Luckily Parkinson and Nott hadn't been there yet. "

"Your bodyguard?" Hermione questioned.

"Yes, you met him. I'm sorry for his attitude, by the way. I was out of the country. I did tell him to make sure you were safe and well for when I returned this morning, but apparently he was still upset with me for sending him into Bedale to get you. I would have done it myself, but I was taking care of unavoidable business," the Italian explained as he held out some Floo powder for her when they reached the fireplace.

"Oh, so that would be who didn't seem to like me too much," she laughed a little.

"Precisely. Again, I apologize for him. Ladies first," he gestured towards the grand fireplace and Hermione stepped in.

"English Ministry of Magic!" she shouted. The familiar feeling took over her body and before she knew it, she was walking out of one of the many fireplaces at the Ministry. Blaise stepped out behind her a moment later and brushed some soot off of his tailored suit.

"So, where was I?" Blaise asked himself. "Oh yes. Well, I'm sorry you spent the night in that god forsaken basement. I haven't had time to fix it up properly yet. So, yes, Nick, my guard, confunded Hopkins and got him to bring you to my place in Spain and release the spells they had placed on you. Some heavy sedation ones, I believe, that can only be truly gotten rid of by sleeping them off, which is probably why you are so tired now. Nick told me that you hadn't slept very much after you woke up at ours the first time."

"Not really, I sort of assumed it was the jetlag from Canada to England though. I was wondering what the hell was going on. Do we have any proof? You know, that Parkinson and Nott are behind it? This is so unfair. I'm not a murderer and I live in a free country. I should be able to do as I please and be with who I want."

They were walking through the masses, Hermione leading the way when someone shouted Blaise's name from behind them. Hermione whipped around when she heard the voice and immediately ran in the direction it came from.

-.-

Draco's eyes widened and jaw dropped when he saw Hermione's figure running towards him. Before he could react, her arms were around his neck and she was squeezing the life out of him. He, in turn, did the same when he finally did react.

"Where the hell have you been? What's going on?" He asked as he pulled her away. Before she could reply Draco looked over her shoulder and his eyes narrowed. He pushed Hermione gently to the side and eyed Blaise up and down as he approached.

"Blaise, what the hell is going on here?"

"Draco, I'm sorry. It wasn't safe to send anything by owl and since I didn't know precisely where you were I couldn't Floo you the information. I'll explain it all later, but not here. It's not safe here," Blaise explained before looking over Draco's shoulder and noticing Harry and Pansy for the first time. He nodded and smiled at his former schoolmates before continuing. "I've got a couple of meetings to attend while you are at yours. Alissa and I would love for all of you to come and spend a few days with us. It's Unplottable, so they can't trace any of you there for a few days. I'll meet you back here in about three hours if that's alright?"

Draco nodded and shook Blaise's hand before bidding him a quick farewell and turning back to Hermione.

"Are you alright?" he asked Hermione as they walked over to meet Harry and Pansy.

"I'm fine. How are you guys? No offence, but you all look like you've been through hell and back."

"We have been! We've been trying to find you! Turns out you were safe all along!" Pansy exclaimed.

"Calm down, babe," Harry said to her. "It's not Hermione's fault. Although I am rather curious to hear what happened."

"This isn't the place," Hermione murmured. "I'll explain in more detail after, but Pansy, your father may be in a bit of a shock when he sees me."

"Was he behind it, then?" Harry asked.

Hermione nodded and looked around. "Let's just get this over with so we can go back to Blaise's and he can explain everything. Where do we have to be?"

-.-

Hermione, Draco, Harry and Pansy made it to their appropriate meeting room about twenty minutes later. They were still nearly a half hour early but they made their way in and sat down. The other three quietly filled Hermione in on what they had been up too trying to find her, constantly looking around to make sure no one had heard or entered the room.

"You would have found me at Bedale, apparently, according to Blaise. But obviously, I wasn't there anymore," she tried to smile encouragingly.

"Yeah, no shit," Harry scoffed.

Hermione smiled meekly at her friend and turned to look at Draco. Before anyone could say anymore however, Kingsley Shacklebolt entered the room. The four immediately stood up to greet the Minister.

"Ah, Hermione, I am so happy to see you here. I have just left a meeting with Blaise Zabini who filled me in on the, erm, situation at hand. I would like to assure you that I have my top Auror looking into it as we speak."

"Thank you, Minister. It's been a long couple of days," Hermione replied smiling, her brown eyes looking tired but thankful nonetheless.

"I imagine so, yes. Alas, you're here safely and that's where it truly counts. Once everyone else joins us, we will begin. Until then, Harry, how goes work in the Muggle world?"

Harry launched into an animated conversation about his job in the Muggle world while the other three watched in amusement. Kingsley, as smart of man as he was, just didn't understand the Muggle world completely.

"Who knows, maybe you can come up with a formula and potion of some sort to give them all magic powers and we can all live in an equal world," Kingsley joked.

They all knew it would never happen and secretly, Hermione didn't want that to happen. Muggles would take advantage of it and there would be another war going on before they knew it.

Before long however, the Malfoy's entered the room and greeted the young adults and Kingsley with a curt nod before taking their seats, muttering between themselves. Not a minute later, the Parkinson's strolled in. Hermione couldn't help but notice how Timothy Parkinson's smirk faded away when he saw Hermione sitting there at the table beside Draco.

"We'll just wait for the other officials and then we'll begin," Kingsley smiled at them all.

-.-

"That's absolutely absurd, Pansy! Your father would never allow you to be hurt!" Mrs. Parkinson was screaming at her daughter.

It was an hour later and they were not much further than they had been before. The Malfoy's had conceded quietly, Mrs. Malfoy stating that they only wanted their son's true happiness and if it be with someone outside of whom they'd thought he would be happy with, then they would willingly break the bond with the Parkinson, if they agreed. No harm done. Some ancient twist in the Unbreakable Vow that one of the officials had mentions at the beginning of the meeting.

Pansy sighed in frustration before countering her mother. "I am not saying he would allow me to be hurt, but he's not against hurting other people. He's willingly hurt. He was a Death Eater," her mother gasped in shock as Pansy said the words aloud.

"Oh, come on, Mother. Everyone in this room knows it's true. His name had been cleared, he can't get charged with it again. No double jeopardy. However, how do I know that he won't come after Harry unless you both willingly agree to this? It's my life so just let me fucking live it as I please!" she shouted, her voice obvious that she was getting fed up with fighting the same argument over and over.

After another twenty minutes of arguing, there was a knock on the door.

Everyone silenced at the interruption as Kingsley stood to answer the door. He was muttering with whoever was on the other side and they continued talking for well over a minute.

When Kingsley returned to the meeting he apologized for the interruption and asked for a moment to speak freely.

"I would like to show you all something," he said as he conjured up a basin in the middle of the conference table. "This is my Multiview Pensive. An invention of my own, it allows me to share memories with many people at a time. There is one that I'd like to show to you now," Kingsley winked at Hermione subtlety before uncorking a small vial and pouring it into the basin.

Instantaneously, Hermione was looking at a large image of Mr. Parkinson, sitting in a room smoking a cigar and drinking from a glass. Hermione continued to watch as memory Parkinson began to speak. "I'm sick of her cheek, Nott. That Mudblood needs to be taught a lesson. The audacity she has to speak to me in such a way, to take Draco away from his beliefs and take him away from my daughter! I want her head on a platter right about now!"

"I'm sure we can arrange something Timothy. Come now, things aren't that much different, are they?" Draco's jaw opened as he saw Theo's father appear in the image now. The memory kept going. "I heard that she's under investigation for murder by the Ministry. I'm sure that the young man, what's his name, Hopkers?"

"Hopkins?"

"That's it. Hopkins. I'm sure that he was talking about it to Wood the other day in the office. I was in visiting my Auror friend and overheard them. I'm sure it was her name that was mentioned."

"We need to find him. I've worked with him before," memory Parkinson was smirking. "I'll get him to arrest her, and then he can take her to one of the old camps. No one will even think to look there."

The memory images disappeared and Hermione, Draco, Pansy and Harry all looked over at Pansy's father who had paled visibly.

Draco noticed that even Mrs. Parkinson was staring at her husband in disbelief.

"Timothy, tell me it isn't true," she whispered. When Mr. Parkinson didn't reply, a horrified Mrs. Parkinson stood up. Without looking at Pansy she said, "We concede. I hope you know what you're doing Pansy."

"Wait! You can't concede without my approval!" Mr. Parkinson argued.

"You bet I can. You'll be on your way to Azkaban at any minute thanks to that. You told me that your days of torture and fighting were over. You'll be no good in Azkaban, so I am taking the liberty to concede for both of us."

Not a split second after Mrs. Parkinson finished speaking did the door open revealing two more Ministry Officials. They stepped towards Mr. Parkinson and asked him to stand.

"You are under arrest for the attempted murder of Hermione Granger, the kidnapping of Hermione Granger and for attempted manslaughter. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the Wizengamot."

The officials escorted the older man from the room.

"Well," Kingsley smiled a small smile. "That settles it I suppose. The contract is hereby null and void. Congratulations to you," he smiled at Hermione, Draco Harry and Pansy before turning to the adults and passing them a parchment. "If the three of you would just sign there, we will all be on our merry ways."

-.-

Hermione was leaning against Draco out on the terrace of Blaise's house. Looking out at the water as the sun set over it, Draco holding her from behind and whispering in her ear.

"You have no idea how happy I am," he said to her.

"I think I have an idea," she giggled before turning around in his arms to give him a kiss.

They had returned to Blaise's earlier and had eaten the feast that Alissa had cooked for them while they had been away. Hermione, Pansy and Alissa were getting along splendidly, laughing and joking, sharing stories about themselves and the men, who were shooting pool in the next room. Hermione had excused herself to get some fresh air, claiming that the celebratory champagne had gone to her head. Draco had followed her outside not half a minute later.

Hermione had never felt as happy in her life as she did now. She finally had the man she only loved, Pansy had apologized for being such a spoiled little bitch and made a peace offering finally, Harry had given her a huge bear hug, Ron and Ginny had owled her and said they still expected her for Sunday Lunch this weekend and to top it off, Narcissa Malfoy had owled her as well, congratulating her and saying that she would like to meet for tea in the next week or so to get to know her new daughter-in-law better. Even if Lucius didn't want to have Draco and Hermione in his life, Narcissa did.

_No, nothing can top this feeling,_ she thought to herself.

As if Draco had heard what she said, he kissed her then. He kissed her with a searing passion that made her go weak at the knees. Behind her closed eyelids she saw fireworks and a sensation arousing in her womb that sent liquid heat to the core between her legs.

_Maybe that can¸_ she countered herself as she kissed him back with the same ferocity.

**-.-**

Hermione and Draco re-entered the house about ten minutes later. With another peck, Draco went off to join Harry and Blaise for another game of pool. He entered the room just as Blaise and Harry were uncorking a bottle of fire whiskey.

"Well, mate, welcome to the grown up world," Blaise congratulated him with a pat on the back as he handed him a glass of the amber alcohol.

"Cheers, Blaise. And to the Boy Who Lived," Draco raised his glass to Harry, "to save me from marrying Pansy Parkinson! Have at 'er!"

Harry laughed and raised his own glass. "Thanks, Malfoy. Just remember, if you hurt Hermione, I hurt you."

"I don't intend on it, but I'll keep that in mind," Draco smirked.

The boys all shared another laugh as they continued started another game. A while later, Hermione and Pansy joined them and explained that Alissa was just tending to the baby.

"By the way, congratulations on that, Blaise," Hermione smiled. "When was the baby born?"

"About four months ago," Blaise smiled and indicated to one of the photographs on the wall. Hermione walked over to the photo that Blaise was pointing to and smiled. Alissa was there, holding a smiling baby girl in her arms about three days after the birth, Blaise explained.

Hermione smiled once more and looked at Draco.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Blaise. Please don't be putting any ideas in her head yet! I've only just gotten her back!" Draco moaned.

"Awwwww," Hermione smirked and put her best puppy dog face on a moment later. "But… I want one."

"Fuck you, Blaise."

-.-

Hermione stretched and opened her eyes, a big smiled plastered on her face. She looked at her left hand. The diamond that Draco and placed on it the night before sparkled in the morning light. She looked over and noticed his side of the bed empty. She got up, pulled on her dressing gown and shoved her feet into her slippers. She made her way down the corridor to the kitchen, stopping for a moment, looking at the new picture addition on the wall.

Normally she didn't like have pictures taken of herself, but she truly loved this picture. She felt glamorous when she looked at it. It had only been put up the night before as well, but she knew that she would feel that way every time she saw it. Blaise truly was a talented photographer; he saw things in a different light which made his portraits even more moving.

Hermione continued to grin as she continued on her journey, the smell of bacon and eggs leading her into the room where her fiancée was cooking, the muggle way.

She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him from behind.

"Morning," she said with a small squeeze.

"Good morning, future Mrs. Malfoy," he turned to face her and pulled her in gently for a kiss. "Would you like a beverage?"

Hermione smiled and let go. "I can do it myself, thank you. How are you feeling this morning?"

"Great, how about yourself?"

"Wonderful. Just can't believe that Blaise's daughter is going to be one year old today," Hermione sighed as she turned to get herself a glass of apple juice.

Draco chuckled and turned back to the stovetop to check the food he was cooking. It had been nearly eight months since he'd seen Blaise and his family. They had stayed in Spain with them for two nights after the ordeal at the Ministry and the almost kidnapping of Hermione, then had gone for Sunday Lunch at the Weasley's before returning home to Canada.

Once they were home, they had gotten into a routine easily. Hermione had sold her house and they had moved into Draco's flat together. She still sold real estate while he worked for the military as a civilian. They had talked about moving back to England, but Hermione loved the country of Canada so much that they had decided to stay. Pansy had also moved to Canada to be with Harry, and their strange relationship seemed to be going strong as well.

"What time do we need to be there for the birthday party?" Hermione asked her lover as she took a sip of her juice and sat down.

"In about an hour and half. I'm sure Blaise said half past five in the evening his time. It should be on the invitation, wherever it went," Draco said over his shoulder, trying to hide his smile.

"What invitation? I haven't seen an invitation, you must not have shown it too me. I didn't even know about it," Hermione countered.

"Honestly, love, calm down, it's not a big deal," Draco smiled as he set a plate of food in front of her. "Eat your breakfast, get ready, and then we'll go. I'm sure it'll be fine if we show up a few minutes early or late. You like to be early I know, but I can think of a few things to take your mind off of it," he winked at her and smirked as her cheeks tinged pink.

Hermione dug into her breakfast, ate it silently and then offered to do the dishes. She stood to do them, but before she could begin they were all clean and putting themselves away. Hermione turned to see Draco with a smirk on his flawless face, holding is wand in his right hand.

"I was going to do those," Hermione frowned in mock anger.

"I saved you the time," Draco countered. "I thought you might be grateful."

Hermione huffed; she knew where this was going. "I should think not," she raised an eyebrow at him. "You cooked; I should clean its only fair."

Draco stood and walked the short space between then and grabbed a hold of her hips. He leaned down to her ear and muttered, "I can think of another way to make it fair," as he pushed his hips against her. Hermione felt her womb tighten and liquid heat in her core as his erection pressed against her tummy. Unwillingly, a moan escaped from her mouth as Draco leaned down to kiss her.

Before she knew it, Draco had lifted her up onto the countertop and was nipping at the pressure point on her neck; the spot that he knew affected her the most. He could get her to agree to anything just by placing light kisses and nipping at that spot. Hermione ran her hands through his hair as he untied her dressing gown and pushed it aside, revealing her breasts and leaning down to suckle on her taut nipples.

Hermione's hands trailed down his muscular arms and she put one of her hands down her pyjama trousers and took a hold of his hard member. He moaned in approval as she did this and switched the other nipple, tweaking the one he'd just abandoned with his hand.

"Make love to me," Hermione moaned as she started to push his pants down. Draco, not detaching himself from her breast, pushed his trousers down as Hermione grabbed his length once again, stroking it up and down with the exact pressure that she knew he liked.

Another moan escaped from his throat as he straightened up and placed himself at her entrance. Hermione's dark cinnamon eyes were pleading for him to enter. Draco looked down at her and wondered how the hell he got so lucky to have this witch here with him now as he pushed himself into her, all the way to the hilt.

He grabbed onto her bum and pulled her closer to him as he thrust in and out. Hermione dug her nails into his back and her breathing became more short winded and she was letting out short little gasps and moans with nearly every thrust.

She was getting so close, she was getting tighter around him and Draco sped up his pace as he felt his balls tighten getting ready for his own release.

At the same time, ecstasy came upon them. Hermione's eyes shut as she gasped his name into the crook of his neck, feeling his explosion filling her up. Draco felt her inner muscles contracting around him, pulling out more and more of his seed until finally he was finished.

They stayed like that for a minute, Hermione's legs wrapped around his waist, her arms around his neck and shoulders and her head buried in the crook of his neck, he with his chin over her shoulder. Both of them were panting trying to even out their breathing.

After another minute or two, Draco pulled away and plastered a smirk on his face. "Yep, I think that'll do for payment," he teased her.

-.-

They were late. They were nearly an hour late because of Draco. That's what Hermione kept telling herself anyways. It didn't matter that she had allowed him to shag her senseless once more on the kitchen counter, twice more in the bedroom and once more in the shower. He didn't even have the decency to do it before she washed herself clean of the sweat. Oh no, the bastard had insisted to jump into the shower after she cleaned herself off and then get it on with her all hot and heavy.

She tried to say no, she didn't want to be late because they were fucking each other's brains out. Alas, they were. And to be honest, the only reason it was bothering Hermione is because it had been nearly eight months since she'd seen Blaise and Alissa's daughter, and Alissa was pregnant again, almost four months and she wanted to spend some quality time with her new friend.

They arrived at the beach house in Spain and stepped out of the Floo.

"Hello?" Hermione asked in a raised voice after looking around for a moment and not seeing any sign of life.

"In here," Alissa's voice carried through the door of the sitting room towards the doors to the beach.

Hermione and Draco walked down the corridor and walked out to the deck where it was oddly pitch black. This wasn't right, it was still before sunset, how the hell was it pitch black.

Suddenly, the light appeared and there were numerous voices yelling at once.

"SURPRISE!"

Hermione looked around in shock. Everyone was standing in front of her with little hats on, the boys had black top hats and the girls had little white veil headpieces. There was a banner floating overtop of them that read "Congratulations Draco and Hermione!"

Hermione looked around and saw everyone that she knew and loved. Blaise and Alissa, Harry and Pansy, Ron and Susan Bones, Ginny and Michael Corner, Molly and Arthur Weasley, Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy, Fred and George with Angelina and Katie. She even saw…

"Mom! Dad!" She smiled at them before going over to give them a huge hug. She'd spoken to her parents last week briefly but it had been cut off because the reception was terrible due to a large storm over the Atlantic. She hadn't been able to tell them about her engagement personally, but she was overjoyed that they were here.

She went over to Alissa next.

"This isn't a birthday party," she laughed as she gave her friend a hug.

"Julie's birthday isn't until next week. It was all part of the surprise," the blonde smiled.

Hermione laughed as she gave Blaise a quick hug before turning back to Draco. "You knew about this?"

"Of course I did. Nothing but the best for you, babe," he came over and gave her a kiss on the forehead. He then leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Not that I didn't enjoy every minute of it, but why else did you think I was stalling you so much?" He kissed her on the cheek before standing upright to go and speak to his parents.

Hermione then truly noticed that Lucius was standing there. She slowly followed her fiancée and stood half a foot behind him to the right.

Draco shook his father's hand and thanked him for coming. Hermione smiled and thanked him as well before Narcissa grabbed her left hand to inspect the ring.

"OOOH! I'm so glad I took you shopping with me all the time when you were a boy! You've got such good taste now!" Narcissa cooed over the ring that Draco had picked out all those months ago.

"Mom, really?" he groaned in embarrassment.

"Oh, hush. Come, Hermione. I want to meet your parents, and I also want to hear every detail about how he did it. Then I will truly know if I raised him properly," Narcissa giggled and winked at her.

Hermione laughed and led the way to where her parents were standing. She introduced them and then excused herself, knowing that she would have to make the rounds. Before she could even make it over to Ginny, an owl flew towards her and nearly flew straight into her face. She backed away in shock before realizing the owl had a letter attached to its leg. She grabbed a biscuit from the food table to her left, untied the letter and fed the owl.

She looked down at the seal and noticed that it was from the Ministry. Not wasting any time, she ripped open the envelope and began to read.

_Dear Ms Granger,_

_I am pleased to inform you that your name has been officially cleared from any charges you may have faced in the past year for using illegal magic and killing Muggles. From all of us at the Ministry, we would like to offer our sincerest apologies for the confusion and we hope that you can forgive us. Surely the brightest witch of the age would not be murdering people._

_Yours truly,_

_Oliver Wood  
Department of Magical Law Enforcement_

_PS. Congratulations on your engagement._

Hermione smiled to herself. It was about time they had sorted it all out.

Draco came over to her and asked her what she was grinning about. She showed him the letter as Ginny came over to talk to her.

Everything had finally sorted itself out, and Hermione couldn't be happier.

This truly was the happy ending her mother always told her she'd get.

-.-

**Well, I suppose that's it. I wasn't too sure how I wanted to end this chapter. I wanted to post the last chapter on Christmas, but I just wasn't happy with how it ended. But I don't think I would ever be happy about it.**

**Thanks to everyone that read this. I hope you liked reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! This is a lot, FYI!**

**Please check out my other stories and review!**

**Love lots!**

**D'Arcy**


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